The 155th running of the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday (Aug. 24), aka the “Midsummer Derby,” is considered the marquee race of the summer. A field of eight 3-year-olds was entered on Sunday. usracing.com is publishing profiles of the contenders.
2024 Travers Stakes Contenders: CORPORATE POWER
The jockey (Javier Castellano) has won the Travers a record seven times, including last year aboard Arcangelo. The trainer (Shug McGaughey) has won the Travers four times, one shy of the record.
Corporate Power. MJC Photo.
The horse, Corporate Power, meanwhile, will be running in a graded stakes race for the first time and seems overmatched in the Travers Stakes despite being handled by two Hall of Famers.
Corporate Power has some strong bloodlines; a son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, who was sired by Quality Road, a five-time Grade 1 winner. The colt comes into the Travers Stakes off a one-length loss to Unmatched Wisdom in the listed 1 1/8-mile Curlin Stakes at the Spa on July 19. (Unmatched Wisdom also returns for the Travers at 8-1).
Then add the top 3-year-olds in the land, Dornoch, Thorpedo Anna, and Fierceness, and it seems unlikely Corporate Power would have a chance.
“I thought he ran pretty good in the Curlin, I thought he improved,” McGaughey said. “I think he came out of it to where he will improve some more. Whether it’s good enough, who knows? It’s a pretty solid bunch.”
2024 Travers Stakes Odds ,Post Positions and Predictions: Corporate Power
Betting advice: Far from the best horse in here despite Hall of Fame trainer and jockey. No play.
Post position: 4
Odds: 15-1
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Trainer: Shug McGaughey
Owners: Courtlandt Farms (Donald Adam)
Career record: 5-2-2-0
Career earnings: $148,200
Last race: Curlin Stakes (2nd)
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 105
Pedigree: Curlin-Road to Victory, by Quality Road
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Notes: Purchased for $925,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale … Did not race as a 2-year-old … Broke his maiden at second asking at Gulfstream Park, ran second in an allowance optional claimer, and then won the Sir Barton Stakes on Preakness Day (May 18) by a nose.
2024 Travers Stakes Odds
| 1 | Thorpedo Anna | 3-1 | Brian Hernandez | Kenny McPeek |
| 2 | Sierra Leone | 7-2 | Flavien Prat | Chad Brown. |
| 3 | Unmatched Wisdomy | 8-1 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Chad Brown |
| 4 | Corporate Power | 15-1 | Javier Castellano | Shug McGaughey |
| 5 | Batten Down | 20-1 | Junior Alvarado | Bill Mott |
| 6 | Honor Marie | 20-1 | Tyler Gaffalione | Whit Beckman |
| 7 | Dornoch | 5-2 | Luis Saez | Danny Gargan |
| 8 | Fierceness | 3-1 | John Velazquez | Todd Pletcher |