Travers Stakes Betting – Trending The Travers
This week will be devoted to the Travers Stakes at Saratoga this weekend as today we’ll monitor where the recent winners have come from and later in the week we’ll get into the meat and potatoes of the race itself.
The race is carded for 3-year-olds at a mile and a quarter and is sometimes referred to as the “Midsummer Derby.”
First run in 1864 and ironically won by a horse owned by the man the race was named for, William Travers. The first winner was Kentucky and some legends of the sport have won the Travers in days gone by.
Man o’War put his stamp on the Travers in 1920. Whirlaway took the 1941 renewal while Gallant Man and Bill Shoemaker succeeded in 1957.
Affirmed’s key rival Alydar won in 1978 and New York’s favorite son Easy Goer took the cash in 1989.
The recent winners of the Travers have taken different paths to victory and we will today try to glean some winning clues from those runner’s victories.
Since the turn of this decade, sports betting players know if any horse looked destined to win the Triple Crown it was Point Given. The Bob Baffert runner went into the Kentucky Derby off a sensational facile score in the Santa Anita Derby and was bet to 8-5 the first Saturday in May at Churchill but he broke a little awkwardly and never fired.
He made up for the loss somewhat in his final 4 career starts. He won the Preakness next out going away, took the Belmont by over a dozen lengths with a 114 Beyer, took about 2 months off before winning the Haskell at Monmouth coming from second to last and finally got a perfect trip in the Travers sitting never more than a length and a half off the pace before drawing away to win with a 117 Beyer.
This runner is what the Travers can mean to fans and handicappers alike.
Birdstone was expertly managed in 2004 since after a troubled Kentucky Derby, he was given time to rest before the Belmont Stakes where he promptly shocked Smarty Jones at 36-1, then proved it was no fluke in the Travers coming from second to last to win going away with a 108 Beyer.
On-line players betting horses this week can get some clues from the last two winners of the Travers and hopefully turn those clues into cash.
In 2009 Summer Bird re-affirmed his status as a Belmont Stakes winner by adapting to the slop and drawing away in the Travers with a 110 Beyer.
The year before Colonel John was coming off a no-excuse third at 4-5 in the Swaps but rebounded by a nose in the Travers with a 106 figure.
In 2007 Street Sense was coming off a chalky win in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga and then wore down his rivals in the Travers inching away late.
The 2006 Travers hero Bernardini took the same route as Street Sense after winning the Jim Dandy by 9 and then wire his Travers field with a lofty 116 Beyer.
And last year Afleet Express was a troubled third in the Dandy but rebounded in the Travers by a nose with a career best 105 Beyer.
Online horse betting players take note: This year’s Travers winner, if the recent results are any help at all, will come to the race sharp and not have been out of the money in the prior start to the Travers.
The prior Beyer should be at least 99 and if a runner has tactical speed that will allow him to maintain contact early, all the better.
Later in the week we’ll examine the field and find the runner with the perfect criteria to succeed this weekend.
