Saturday's Travers Stakes only enhanced the early-season dominance of Justify, who goes to the breeding shed undefeated as horse racing's 13th Triple Crown winner.
Though certain to be named Horse of the Year and male 3-year-old champion, Justify cannot match another horse of his generation for versatility. Catholic Boy became a Grade 1 winner both on dirt and grass with his four-length romp in the 149th Travers at historic Saratoga in upstate New York.
The last-out Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational winner on grass for trainer Jonathan Thomas, Catholic Boy won the Travers with a stalking trip after a mile and a quarter in 2:01.94. Paying $16.20, $8.20 and $5, Catholic Boy presented Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano his record sixth Travers victory.
Mendelssohn, himself a multiple stakes winner on both surfaces, set the pace and held on for second, atoning somewhat for his last-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Bravazo, the only horse besides Justify to race in all three legs of the Triple Crown, ran third.
Good Magic, the 7-5 favorite, lost ground on the first turn from an outside post and finished ninth in the 10-horse field. Tenfold, who like Bravazo won at Oaklawn Park this year, placed seventh and Oaklawn-raced filly Wonder Gadot last.
* Earlier, two Oaklawn stakes winners battled down the stretch in a race named for one of horse racing's greatest champions. At the wire, it was Whitmore over City of Light by 1 1/2 lengths in the $600,000 Forego.
A 5-year-old racing millionaire, Whitmore scored his first Grade 1 victory. With Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard, the Pleasantly Perfect gelding stalked fast early fractions and surged inside near the head of the stretch. With seven furlongs in 1:21.46, Whitmore paid $19.60 per $2 win ticket and bumped his career earnings to $1,991,000.
Limousine Liberal placed third after twice defeating Whitmore by a neck in Grade 2 races at Belmont Park.
Trainer Ron Moquett co-owns Whitmore with Robert LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners.
"To run that well here, he's as consistent as they come and he tries every time," said Moquett. "He's made a career out of outrunning his trainer and I just hope he keeps doing it."
Whitmore finished third in the Grade 1 2016 Arkansas Derby before Moquett converted him into a sprinter. The gelding is unbeaten sprinting at Oaklawn, winning multiple stakes in Hot Springs each of the last two years.
The 4-year-old City of Light, a multiple Grade 1 winner for trainer Mike McCarthy, took this year's Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on the same card Whitmore won the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap for the second time.
The Forego honored a Hall of Famer and three-time Horse of the Year from the same crop (1970) as Secretariat.
Sports on 08/26/2018