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: UNMATCHED WISDOM
Unbeaten, untested, and unlikely to win, Unmatched Wisdom still gives trainer Chad Brown a second shot – an 8-1 longshot – at snaring his first victory in the Travers Stakes.
Unmatched Wisdom. NYRA Photo
The trainer who grew up 16 miles from Saratoga Springs in Mechanicville, New York, also sends out Sierra Leone, the 7-2 fourth choice behind Dornoch, Thorpedo Anna, and Fierceness.
And that tells you all you need to know about how tough this field of eight 3-year-olds is going 1 ¼ miles, the same distance as the Kentucky Derby (Sierra Leone was second by a nose) and the Belmont Stakes (Dornoch won).
Then again, Saratoga is known as the “Graveyard of Champions.” Can this bay son of Cairo Prince pull it off?
Unraced as a 2-year-old, he won his career debut by 6 ¼ lengths at 1 mile at Aqueduct; won a 1 1/8-mile allowance by 5 ¾ lengths on June 22, then won the 1 1/8-mile Curlin Stakes by one length over Corporate Power at the Spa on July 19.
“He’s got very good positional speed. If nobody goes, he can go,” Brown said. “If he has a target, he’s fine – maybe better. Hopefully, he breaks clean and can be very forward in this race.”
2024 Travers Stakes Odds, Post Positions and Predictions: Unmatched Wisdom
Betting advice: Can he stay with frontrunners Dornoch, Fierceness, Thorpedo Anna? Or is he in the help closer and stablemate Sierra Leone? Worth a shot.
Post position: 3
Odds: 8-1
Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Klaravich Stables
Career record: 3-3-0-0
Career earnings: $178,750
Last race: Curlin Stakes (1st)
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 107
Pedigree: Cairo Prince-Glide On By, by Pure Prize
Color: Dark bay
Running style: Stalker/frontrunner
Notes: Irad Ortiz, Jr., the nation’s leading rider and atop the leaderboard at the Spa, is a huge plus. He’s likely to be aggressive at the start, which could make for a fast pace, and clear the decks for closer and stablemate Sierra Leone … Brown has saddled 15 starters in 10 Travers – his best finish was a pair of thirds with Zandon in 2022 and Miles D in 2021 … Amazingly, Ortiz is 0-for-12 in the Travers, having had a mount every year starting in 2012. His best finish was a pair of fourths aboard Forte in 2023 and Kiz Cruz in 2014.
2024 Travers Stakes Odds
| 1 | Thorpedo Anna | 3-1 | Brian Hernandez | Kenny McPeek |
| 2 | Sierra Leone | 7-2 | Flavien Prat | Chad Brown. |
| 3 | Unmatched Wisdom | 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 |