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WinStar Farm LLC’s Colonel John, ridden by jockey Garrett Gomez, won the $1-million Travers Stakes (gr. I) Saturday, August 23, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Eoin Harty, Colonel John covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.20 and paid $10.40, $5.40 and $4.30. Mambo in Seattle, under jockey Robby Albarado, returned $6.30 and $5.10. Morning line favorite Pyro with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan aboard paid $3.70 to show.
Considered one of the top 3-year-olds after he won the Santa Anita Derby, Colonel John lost some of his luster after a disappointing 6th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Colonel John’s connections opted not to run him in the final two legs of the Triple Crown, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
After a third-place showing in the Swap Stakes on July 12, Colonel John came to upstate New York for the Travers to take on 11 other rivals, including Belmont Stakes winner Da’Tara and morning line favorite Pyro.
Colonel John also made his return to a dirt surface, proving his mettle in a thrilling fashion as he bobbed at just the right time to nip Mambo in Seattle in a dramatic finish.
At the wire, jockey Robby Albarado raised his whip in triumph, only to have the finish photograph determine that Colonel John had won by inches. It was the eighth Travers decided by a nose and the first since 1998. “I thought I had it,” Albarado said.
Race horse trainer Eoin Harty said he never lost confidence in his horse. “Even with the trip he had in the Kentucky Derby I don’t know if we would have beaten Big Brown that day. I’d certainly like to take him on again; maybe in the Breeders’ Cup.”
Other horses that raced in Saratoga’s Travers Stakes in order of finish: Harlem Rocker, Da’ Tara, Court Vision, Tale of Ekati, Macho Again, Tizbig, Amped, Cool Coal Man and Tres Borrachos.
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