Exgaggerator targeted Travers
Preakness winner spent summer at Spa to ready for historic race
SARATOGA SPRINGS >> It is all coming together for Exaggerator and the Travers Stakes.
The Preakness winner and leader of the 3-year-old male division has been at Saratoga since before the meet got underway on July 22.
“We’ve been camped out here all summer,” said trainer Keith Desormeaux at his main track barn on Friday morning. “The Travers has always been our goal.”
Exaggerator has spent nearly two years racing in the toughest company available. A demanding juvenile campaign evolved into a major sophomore schedule, including starts in all three Triple Crown races.
“What I see is a maturing horse who has carried his weight well and his coat color is great,” said Desormeaux. “He still has that exuberance to train and he’s got a gleam in his eye. All those things that we as horsemen look for in judging the readiness of our horse — he’s checked every box.”
Although the original summer plan included the Jim Dandy Stakes on July 30, the traditional local prep for the Travers, Desormeaux called an audible and sent Exaggerator to the Haskell Invitational at
Monmouth Park the next day.
With rain in the forecast and Exaggerator’s affinity for a wet surface on his record, it wasn’t a tough call to make, given that the colt had not pleased his connections with his handling of the Saratoga main track at that time.
Further, the Haskell Invitational is a “Win and You’re In” event, meaning the victor gets all expenses paid for the Breeders’ Cup.
Desormeaux called the decision a “no brainer” when he took everything into consideration.
Exaggerator won by a length and a quarter over American Freedom with his customary late surge.
Even though he earned the free pass to the Breeders’ Cup, Desormeaux insists he is still not focusing on that event.
His current plans call for remaining in Saratoga for a while after the conclusion of the meet on Labor Day, and taking a look at the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 24.
Desormeaux’s brother Kent will be aboard Exaggerator in the $1.25 million Travers, with post time slated for 5:44 p.m. on a 13-race card. Exaggerator erased all concerns with a superb workout on Aug. 20, breezing 5 furlongs in 1:00 4/5 on the main track with jockey Dylan Davis in the irons. “The horse was very relaxed and Dylan wasn’t pushing him at all,” said Julie Clark, assistant to Desormeaux. “Dylan’s a great fit for him. He was doing it on his own. Dylan said he never ‘smooched’ him or asked him and he actually thought, because he wasn’t encouraging him, that he went a little slower than he did. When he asked him to pick it up a little the last quarter and to gallop out, he did it on his own.”
The Travers will be Exaggerator’s sixth consecutive start in Grade 1 company this year.
He has won three of them, the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness, and Haskell, on wet tracks.
He was second in the Kentucky Derby to Nyquist, who is the only major 3-year-old not in this edition of the Travers.
His fine performances on dry tracks in the San Vicente and San Felipe earlier this year in California, are seemingly forgotten in view of his superior form on wet tracks.
Desormeaux isn’t bothered.
“It’ll be fun to prove his dominance on a dry track,” he said. “I am confident in him.”
Exaggerator is the deserving favorite in the “Mid-Summer Derby” at Saratoga.
The Haskell Invitational is a “Win and You’re In” event, meaning the victor gets all expenses paid for the Breeders’ Cup.