The 142nd running of the Travers Stakes gave us all we could ask for with the gritty
Stay Thirsty taking the laurels and reins of the 3-year-old division.
He thumped the Preakness, Belmont and Haskell winners in fine fashion under jockey Javier Castellano, who gave him a perfect ride.
The undercard was filled with excellent efforts, notably the 2-year old colt,
Fire On Ice who scored an impressive victory in a maiden special weight, reminiscent of a colt who broke his maiden a year earlier who happened to be returning in the King's Bishop off a long layoff.
My three singles of the day,
Good Prospect (4th),
Fizzano (7th) and
Cincinnati Kid (13th) kept me out of trouble at the windows, which enabled me to go deep in a Pick-3 with
Hot Summer in the Victory Ride anchoring a nice payday. My Pick-4 blew up however when I tried to beat Hilda's Passion in the Ballerina, which proved to be not a good move.
I took my father for the second consecutive Travers and we had a fun day in the backyard with the Vattimo crew and later at Prime with the Saratoga Resident, the Puma and the Twins. Prime is a tremendous venue to hang out after the races and I'll be back to tackle the golf course at National on Thursday.
Oh, I had to work also, you can find my post-race commentary for The Buffalo News
here.
The Toga Party contest has tightened.up and the Space Gal has evened up with yours truly at the top of the leaderboard as she was the only contestant out of 19 to select
Stay Thirsty. dana from
Hello Race Fans captured a couple points with
Caleb's Posse and the $2 trifecta to get back into the hunt. It still is anybody's ball game.
Here's our day in pictures....
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| Steven Crist and Andy Serling Talkin' Horses |
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| Miss Netta scores with Rajiv Maragh up |
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| Kieran McLaughlin had a big day |
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| Daveron wins the Grade 2 Ballston Spa |
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Eddie Castro, Graham Motion
win for Team Valor |
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Near the top of the stretch in
the Victory Ride, where's Hot Summer?
Answer: On her way. |
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| Uncle Mo in the paddock |
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| Why is this guy always taking my picture? |
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| Caleb's Posse heads to the track |
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| Uncle Mo ready to return to the races |
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| Photo Finish in the King's Bishop! |
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| The Toddster and a dejected Johnny V |
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Rajiv Maragh and Caleb's Posse, the
2011 King's Bishop champ |
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Mike Battaglia from NBC
interviews Bob Baffert |
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Kelly Breen with Belmont champ
Ruler On Ice |
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Huddle Up....go down to the Chevy and
cut across the middle |
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| Rattlesnake Bridge, Travers runnerup |
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| Martin Garcia and Haskell champ Coil |
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| The Baffert |
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| Show horse JW Blue (32-1) |
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| Preakness champ Shackleford |
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| By the Grandstand for the first time in the Travers |
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| Stay Thirsty heads for the wire |
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| Hug it out, bro |
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| The Travers champ gets the sponge |
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| Javy closes in on Johnny V with his 44th win of the meet |
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| The Goods |
A great day was had by all....hope you enjoyed the pics.
7 Comments:
Geno,
Thanks for the pictures and great P3 hit.
I'm sooo jealous. Silver lining...the family watched the King's Bishop and Travers w/ me...the wife suggested a trip to NY including Saratoga!!!
See you next year (I hope)!!!
Rob,
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Book that trip now!! Look forward to meeting you...I will most likely be at BC12 at SA...God willing.
You'll have to take the wife to Finger Lakes wine country or the Adirondacks/Lake George...NY has a lot to offer in the summer...not to mention the Big Apple.
Geno
Geno,
Great pictures. I was in saratoga last week pre travers. Truly a beautiful place. I'm going to try one more time this week. Saratoga is just a little too far from Boston for a day trip.
Marty,
I'll be at the Paddock Bar most of Wednesday...look me up/email me.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
This one was my first and I couldn't have picked a better day -- the whole card was great! I didn't make the drive in sub-four, or even five from Clarence, and the ride home on Sunday was not fun -- but it was so worth it!
Keep up the good work, Geno! It's great to enjoy you in the News, too!
Hey Nanette! I sure wish I knew you were there, I would have loved to have met you! Next time, please drop me a line on FB or via email ahead of time.
It was a great day and glad you made it back to our side of the State safely!
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Good times. Just couldn't get back to the Spa this year - thanks for bringing me there with the pics. Great picking too. I had Stay Thirsty and JW Blue in an exacta box - which paid me nada.
Glad to see I'm finally off the snide in the Toga Contest, but I don't see gaining any ground on you or the SpaceGal.
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