Unbelievable! Field & Posts Snag $1.25 Million in Mid-Summer Derby Draw!

Located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

This upcoming Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes is set to be a thrilling competition, with an eight-horse field featuring top contenders Thorpedo Anna, the leading 3-year-old female horse, and Dornoch, the top 3-year-old male horse in the U.S.

Trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Thorpedo Anna will be starting from the innermost post position. With morning line odds of 3-1, she enters the Travers on the back of four consecutive wins, including Grade 1 victories in the Kentucky Oaks, the Acorn, and the Coaching Club American Oaks. She aims to be the first female horse to win the mid-summer derby since Lady Rotha did so over a century ago, in 1915.

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McPeek expressed his excitement for the upcoming Travers, describing it as a historic event. He strongly believes that Thorpedo Anna deserves the chance to compete against the best. He said, “She’s proven herself to be the best in her division, and I have no doubt that she can handle a mile-and-a-quarter. She will receive a five-pound weight allowance, and there are a million and two reasons to give it a shot.”

The 5-2 favorite, Dornoch, has been assigned to post 7. He has been ridden to victory in two Grade 1 races – the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell Stakes – by his trainer Danny Gargan and jockey Luis Sáez. Should he win the Travers, he would become the eighth horse to achieve the Haskell and Travers double, and the first since Point Given in 2001. Point Given is also the only horse to have won the Belmont, Haskell, and Travers.

Danny Gargan describes the Travers as the best race of the year, and one of the most exciting races they’ve seen all year. He said, “We’ve already won two Grade 1 races consecutively. Winning a third one in a row is challenging, but if he can do it, it would be absolutely fantastic. We are simply grateful and feel blessed to be in this position.”

Both Thorpedo Anna and Dornoch will face stiff competition. All eight 3-year-olds in the field are stakes winners, and two of them have claimed Grade 1 victories. In total, the field has won eight Grade 1s. Thorpedo Anna, Dornoch, Sierra Leone, and Fierceness, all millionaires, have combined earnings of $8,529,788.