Golden Tempo Vs. Renegade Vs. Napoleon Solo in the Travers

The Midsummer Derby Finally Gets Its Fight

Some Travers previews sell you a coronation. This one sells you a fight. Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby and then the Belmont. Napoleon Solo won the Preakness. Renegade won neither but has been closer to Golden Tempo than anyone alive, running second in the Derby and third in the Belmont before taking the Jim Dandy. Saturday at Saratoga is the first time all three have been in the same race. Post time for the 157th Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers is 6:35 p.m. Eastern, race 13 on a 14-race card, live on FOX.

Golden Tempo is the one everybody came to see. Cherie DeVaux's colt closed from the clouds to win the Kentucky Derby and then the Belmont at this very track in June, making him just the 13th horse to take both of those legs. He has not run since. A minor illness knocked him off the Jim Dandy, the traditional stepping stone, and now he returns off a layoff from post 9 with Jose Ortiz aboard at 5-2 on the morning line. That is a remarkably soft price for a dual classic winner, and the reason is standing right next to him. Renegade, second in the Derby and third in the Belmont, took the Jim Dandy with a ferocious late run for Todd Pletcher and sits at 3-1. Tyler Gaffalione picks up the mount with regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr. sidelined by injury since early August. Two deep closers, ten furlongs, and one Saratoga stretch to sort it out.

That math leaves an obvious opening for anything with tactical speed, which is exactly what Preakness winner Napoleon Solo brings at 8-1 with John Velazquez taking over. Chad Brown fires two bullets in Sea Strike (5-1, Flavien Prat) and Emerging Market (15-1), while Baby Vino at 10-1 for Lindsay Schultz and Paco Lopez, The Puma at 8-1 with Javier Castellano up, and Brad Cox's Leading Change at 12-1 all have live cases. Worth remembering that Castellano owns the all-time Travers record with seven wins. Ocelli and Silent Tactic round out a field carrying more than $12 million in combined earnings.

The undercard is not filler. It is four more Grade 1s and a Grade 2, and three of them punch a ticket straight to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup on October 30 and 31. The Personal Ensign goes as race 9 at 3:55 p.m. with a field of six and a genuine rematch at its heart: Fully Subscribed, the 6-5 favorite, ran down Scottish Lassie by a half length in the Shuvee over this same track and trip last month, and Brad Cox's Margie's Intention at 12-1 looks overpriced coming off her Allaire DuPont Distaff win. In the Forego, the reigning champion male sprinter Book'em Danno returns to the place he loves most. The New Jersey-bred is five for six at Saratoga, won this race last year, and is even money to do it again for Derek Ryan with Paco Lopez riding. The Ballerina drew twelve older fillies and mares including five Grade 1 winners, headed by Ways and Means, who has won five times at the Spa and posted a great speed figure in the Bed o' Roses. And keep an eye on Englishman in the Jerkens, the other freakishly fast three-year-old in the DeVaux barn.

Down in Franklin, Kentucky Downs cranks open its all-turf boutique meet the same afternoon, and it is throwing $37 million in purses at seven race days. Saturday's centerpiece is the newly promoted Grade 1, $1.75 million Never Say Die Ladies Turf Sprint over six and a half furlongs, where Ag Bullet goes for a third straight score, with NBCSN and Peacock on site from 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern. Out west, Del Mar runs the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at a mile and three eighths for a paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and the 8-year-old Gold Phoenix heads a field of 11 chasing a fifth consecutive win in the race.

Sunday keeps it rolling. Kentucky Downs comes back with the $750,000 Untapable for juvenile fillies and the $500,000 Tapit, Del Mar offers the Grade 3 Torrey Pines, and Saratoga counters with the $200,000 Yaddo for New York-breds on a card that opens at 1:10 p.m.

Somebody's silks go on the Saratoga canoe next summer. Saturday decides whose.