Quality Road is one to beat in Travers Stakes

travers stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — There's a reason Quality Road is the morning-line favorite over Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird in Saturday's $1 million Travers: He was the Kentucky Derby favorite before hoof injuries sidelined him for the Triple Crown season.

Now he's back, and in record-setting form.

Earlier this month, Quality Road returned to the races for the first time in more than four months and won the 6½-furlong Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga in track record time of 1:13.74.

Previously, the 3-year-old colt won the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in track record time of 1:47.72.

The big question going into the 1 1/4-mile Travers is whether Quality Road is ready to stretch out in distance.

"He's a special horse," Todd Pletcher said of Quality Road, who was trained by Jimmy Jerkens but sent to Pletcher in June by owner Edward P. Evans. "It takes a special kind of horse, with both speed and the ability to carry that speed over a distance of ground, and I think he's that kind of horse."

Kiaran McLaughlin, who sends out Charitable Man, believes Quality Road is the one to beat in the "Mid-Summer Derby"

"I have to give Todd great credit in getting him ready to run, after the layoff to win so impressively at 6½ furlongs," McLaughlin said. "He (Pletcher) is trying to do all that he can do to ensure that he will get the mile-and-a-quarter, and I'm sure that he will."

Quality Road, the 8-5 choice, will be ridden by John Velazquez. Summer Bird, with Kent Desormeaux up, is 3-1, with Jim Dandy winner Kensei 7-2, followed by Charitable Man (6-1), Warrior's Reward (8-1) and Hold Me Back and Our Edge, both 15-1.

The National Weather service forecast for Saturday is calling for a 90 percent chance of rain — occasional showers with thunderstorms. Quality Road has never run on a wet track.

"It's like always with the weather," Pletcher said. "You wish that it was going to be perfect conditions, but you have absolutely no control over it so you just hope for the best."

Missing from the Travers is Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra and Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

Rachel Alexandra is skipping the race because she will be taking on older boys next week in the Woodward Stakes, and the Derby winner is out as he continues to recover from throat surgery.

The field is still a strong one.

"Even if you go by what they say on paper — you have the Florida Derby winner, the Belmont winner, the Jim Dandy winner, the Peter Pan winner, the Barbaro winner (that's us) ..." says Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who will saddle Our Echo.

"There are so many great qualifications in there. If you had the Kentucky Derby winner in there, it would have been special, but it's a special race anyway."

Summer Bird's trainer Tim Ice is looking for a big race from his Belmont winner, who was a solid but distant runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2.

"He's run a couple of big races, but I still think he has a lot left to show just how good he is," Ice said. "I'm really happy with the way he's coming into the race."

Kensei comes into the 140th Travers off victories in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont on July 4 and the Jim Dandy on Aug. 1. The son of Mr. Greeley missed the Triple Crown races, but now has a chance to move out of the shadow of stablemate Rachel Alexandra.

"This is the defining moment for him," said Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, who also co-owns Rachel Alexandra. "It won't be the final moment, but it will be the defining moment."

Chip Woolley, who trains Mine That Bird, said Quality Road was the horse he would have feared most.

"You don't know how good that horse really is. He has shown great talent," Woolley said. "He's a very fearsome sight out there."