The Travers Stakes (G1), often called the “Midsummer Derby,” is the most significant race remaining for 3-year-olds. It is a final chance to determine the pecking order in the division before summer turns to fall and the leading sophomores step up to the handicap division to face their elders on the roads that lead to the Breeders’ Cup championships.
It is a long journey from the Kentucky Derby (G1) on the first Saturday in May to the Travers in late August. The cast of characters so prominent in the Triple Crown often changes dramatically come Travers Day, the premier event of the prestigious Saratoga meet.
Sea Hero Statue at Saratoga. NYRA Photo
Sea Hero Statue at Spa a Tribute to 1993 Derby, Travers Winner
This year is no different. Mystik Dan, the Derby winner, the only horse to run in all three legs of the 2024 Triple Crown, is recuperating on a farm with the goal of returning next season as a 4-year-old.
The rigors of the Triple Crown can be draining. That explains why so few horses have captured both the Derby and the Travers. Only 10 have pulled off that parlay. Street Sense was the last in 2007.
When the colts and one very talented filly enter the paddock for this year’s Travers, they will pass the life-size image in bronze of Sea Hero. The popular colt completed the Derby-Travers double in 1993, ending a drought that dated back to Shut Out in 1942.
Sea Hero didn’t win often, but he had a knack for delivering on the sport’s biggest days.
His unexpected Derby win was the culmination of Hall of Fame careers for his owner Paul Mellon and trainer Mack Miller. Heading into the Derby, Mellon was 85 and Miller was 71. Neither had won a Derby. It was now or never.
The final member of the team was jockey Jerry Bailey, another Hall of Famer in search of his first Derby win.
Dismissed at 13-1, Sea Hero and Bailey found an opening along the rail in the Churchill Downs stretch and the colt darted through to deliver the victory.
The rest of the Triple Crown was a bust as Sea Hero finished fifth in the Preakness (G1) and seventh in the Belmont (G1).
The Derby was a moment to cherish but Sea Hero had one more big day in store: the Travers.
Rested after the Belmont, Sea Hero returned to run fourth in the Jim Dandy, Saratoga’s traditional prep for the Travers that extended his losing streak to three.
Stunningly on Travers Day, the Derby-winning Sea Hero was back in form. It was déjà vu, all over again.
After stalking the early pace, he angled wide for the stretch run and surged to a two-length victory over Kissin Kris, the Haskell Invitational winner.
“This is a storybook too, like Derby,” Miller said in the post-race press conference. “I’m a pretty corny old guy and I want everything to happen good for this man (Mellon).”
Sea Hero never reached that peak again. Sea Hero returned at 4 but mustered only one win in eight starts that final season. He finished with a record of 6-3-4 in 24 starts.
He didn’t set the world on fire as a sire and eventually wound up at stud in Turkey. At the time of his death in 2019, Sea Hero was the oldest living Derby winner at 29.
Gone but not forgotten, thanks to Mellon, a renowned philanthropist and art collector. He commissioned the statue of his homebred that stands in the Saratoga paddock, a tribute to an inconsistent horse who soared to the heights on two of racing’s biggest stages.