SARATOGA 2023: Ballerina, Forego, and Sword Dancer not to be forgotten on stacked Travers Day card
It’s hard to top this year’s Travers field, which includes what few would argue are the three best three-year-olds still in training. The fields in other of Saturday’s G1 events, however, also have outstanding casts. These include the two sprints for older horses, the Ballerina Handicap and the Forego Stakes, both of which offer $500,000 pots and are run at seven furlongs.
Most of the top competitors in the Ballerina are familiar with each other. The race has attracted the first three finishers in this year’s Derby City Distaff (G1), the first four in the Bed o’ Roses (G2) and the top two in the Honorable Miss (G2).
Still, reigning champion sprinter Goodnight Olive (9-5) and Echo Zulu (7-5), a seven-time graded-stakes winner, rate an edge over the rest of the field of eight. The pair have met only once, in last year’s BC Filly & Mare Sprint, with Goodnight Olive surging to the front coming off the turn and continuing on to win by 2½ lengths. Echo Zulu held second by a length in what was only her second loss in eight starts.
Echo Zulu merits the edge today based on her open-lengths victories (by a combined 12½ lengths) in her two 2023 starts in the Winning Colors (G3) and Honorable Miss (G2). Goodnight Olive won close decisions in the Madison (G1) and Bed o’ Roses but had to settle for third when lacking running room in the stretch of the Derby City Distaff.
Matareya (6-1) and Wicked Halo (8-1), the one-two finishers in the Derby City, deserve some consideration today in the Ballerina. The rest of the field is made up of Caramel Swirl (10-1), Maryquitecontrary (15-1), Dr B (15-1) and Sterling Silver (30-1).
Elite Power, the 2022 champion male sprinter, and Gunite tower over the short field of five in the Forego at morning-line odds of 1-2 and 6-5, respectively. Elite Power has shown no sign of backing off his near-perfect 2022 form, winning his first three starts of 2023 to extend his winning streak to eight. After besting Gunite, who finished second, in the Riyadh Turf Sprint (G3) in Saudi Arabia, the son of Curlin returned to the U.S. to take the True North (G2) and then edge Gunite in a thrilling edition of the A. G. Vanderbilt (G1) here on July 29.
Rain is a strong possibility on Saturday, but neither of the two principals appeared to be phased by the sloppy going in the Vanderbilt. The rest of the Forego field – Pipeline (12-1), Synthesis (20-1) and High Oak (30-1) – look to be running for show money in this one.
Channel Maker returns in Sword Dancer
Channel Maker’s victory four weeks ago in the Bowling Green Stakes (G2) was a popular one, especially among those who had him at 15-1. The nine-year-old gelding benefited when odds-on favorite Rebel’s Romance lost his rider after clipping heels in the stretch. Still, the son of English Channel looked awfully brave rolling down the stretchbloodhorse, bounding away happily to win by two.
Incredibly, Channel Maker (second choice at 7-2 on the morning line) will be running in the $750,000 Sword Dancer (G1) for the sixth straight year. His best finish came in his championship year of 2020, when he went gate to wire (over soft going) in the mile-and-a-half race to win by nearly six lengths. He has finished off the board the last two years.
Stone Age is a solid, if perhaps surprising, morning-line favorite at 6-5. The well-traveled son of Galileo has won only twice in 15 starts, the most recent coming in Ireland in last year’s Derby Trial (G3) at Leopardstown. Stone Age has been running in top company, however, having competed in eight consecutive Grade/Group 1 races in England, Ireland, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. His best finish was a second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at 12-1.
Soldier Rising would be an attractive overlay if he went off at anywhere near his morning-line odds of 8-1. His 0-for-3 record in 2023 includes runner-up performances in a pair of G1s (the Man o’ War and Manhattan) and a seventh in a troubled Bowling Green, where he lost all chance after being bumped “very hard” by Rebel’s Romance.
Bolshoi Ballet (5-1) is another world traveler, with starts in England, Ireland, France, Hong Kong and the U.S. The five-year-old Galileo horse exits a sixth-place effort in the King George VI (G1) last month at Ascot. His last win occurred ten starts back in the 2021 Belmont Derby Invitational (G1).
Verstappen (8-1), Pioneering Spirit (8-1) and Daunt (20-1) round out the seven-horse field.
