Golden Tempo eyes championship coronation in Travers

The $1.25 million Travers (G1) at Saratoga on Saturday will produce one of two things: a virtual coronation of Golden Tempo as the season’s leading three-year-old or a window of opportunity for another horse to ultimately make a similar claim during the final few months of the year.

However, with earlier wins in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont (G1) in the bag, Golden Tempo has all the momentum heading into the Travers, the 1 1/4-mile “Midsummer Derby” which is the traditional Saratoga highlight.

Golden Tempo enters the Travers having not run since the June 6 Belmont over the same track and distance. An intended prep in the Aug. 1 Jim Dandy (G2) was ruled out after Golden Tempo fell ill over the summer, but trainer Cherie DeVaux doesn’t feel it has materially affected his preparation.

“He didn’t really miss that much training,” DeVaux said. “It could’ve been a lot longer, but he didn’t miss an amount that would really make a difference in his fitness overall.”

Renegade, a rough-trip second in the Derby and a no-excuse third as the favorite in the Belmont, overcame a moderate pace and an 11-length deficit to win the Jim Dandy by a half-length.

“He’s been in peak form the past couple of weeks, and he acts to me like he’s sitting on a big race,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He’s been training enthusiastically and it seems like he’s thriving.”

Silent Tactic, third in the Jim Dandy following a layoff dating to his second-place finish to Renegade in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on March 31, figures to be sharper for the Travers.

“There was no way he could have been 100 percent for the Jim Dandy. I would say he was probably 90 percent,” trainer Mark Casse said. “If he can move up five percent or so, it's going to put him in the mix.”

Preakness (G1) winner Napoleon Solo figures to show speed from post 2, but when ridden to lull his rivals to sleep through moderate fractions in the Haskell (G1) last time, Napoleon Solo was overtaken in the stretch by Baby Vino. That race was over a sloppy track, a condition seemingly not favorable to Florida Derby (G1) runner-up The Puma, who never reached contention and settled for fourth.

Trainer Chad Brown starts two. Sea Strike was an emphatic winner of the restricted Curlin S. over Chief Wallabee in his two-turn debut, while Louisiana Derby (G1) winner Emerging Market, the last horse to beat Golden Tempo, was subsequently well beaten in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. He was also upset in a slowly run second-level allowance last month.

The relatively inexperienced Leading Change didn’t debut until June 7. After a comfortable maiden over seven furlongs at Churchill Downs, he was a narrow, odds-on winner of the Indiana Derby (G3), an indication of how little depth there was in that race.

The field is rounded out by the maiden Ocelli, who placed in the Wood Memorial (G2), Kentucky Derby, and Ohio Derby (G3).