Racing’s best sired Travers winners

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » With a history of celebrated winners and historic performances that trace back to the Civil War, the Travers Stakes is widely regarded as one of the most iconic thoroughbred races in the world. Its winners include immortals such as Man o’ War, Whirlaway, Native Dancer, Damascus, Buckpasser and Twenty Grand, among others. Overall, 23 Travers winners have received racing’s highest honor, induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Although the subject generally does not receive as much attention, the list of horses that have sired Travers winners is as impressive as the winners themselves. It has been that way since the beginning. When Kentucky, owned in partnership by the race’s namesake, William R. Travers, won the inaugural edition of the race in 1864, it charted a course of unmatched dominance in Saratoga’s signature event for the mighty sire Lexington.

At the heart of any discussion involving the most accomplished stallions in racing history, Lexington was America’s leading sire a record 16 times. When his bay son Kentucky, out of the Glencoe mare Magnolia, prevailed at Saratoga on Aug. 2, 1864, it marked the first of a record nine times that a son or daughter of Lexington won the Travers in a 15-year span.

Kentucky, Maiden (1865), Merrill (1866), The Banshee (1868), Kingfisher (1870), Harry Bassett (1871), Tom Bowling (1873), Sultana (1876) and Duke of Magenta (1878) secured Lexington’s legacy as the greatest of Travers sires. Maiden, The Banshee and Sultana are three of only seven fillies to have won the Travers, an occurrence that has not taken place since 1915.

Australian was the other dominant sire of Travers winners in the 1870s, as his sons Joe Daniels (1872), Attila (1874) and Baden-Baden (1877) won the race in the decade. No other stallion has sired more than two Travers winners since the days of Lexington and Australian.

Among the 14 stallions that both won the Travers and sired a winner of the race, only Hall of Famer Man o’ War and Eclipse Award winner Bernardini have sired two winners. Man o’ War, winner of the 1920 Travers in track-record time that stood for 42 years, sired 1926 winner Mars and 1932 winner War Hero. Bernardini, the 2006 Travers winner, sired both Stay Thirsty (2011) and Alpha (2012 dead heat).

The other Travers winners to sire a winner of the race include Sir Dixon (1888), sire of Blues (1901); Broomstick (1904), sire of Beacon Hill (1929); Sun Briar (1918), sire of Sun Flag (1924); Eight Thirty (1939), sire of Lights Up (1950); Hall of Famer Sword Dancer (1959), sire of Hall of Famer Damascus (1967); Tompion (1960), sire of Chompion (1968); Key to the Mint (1972), sire of Java Gold (1987); Hall of Famer Alydar (1978), sire of Hall of Famer Easy Goer (1989), the sire of Will’s Way (1996); Forty Niner (1988), sire of Coronado’s Quest (1998); Thunder Gulch (1995), sire of Hall of Famer Point Given (2001); Deputy Commander (1997), sire of Ten Most Wanted (2003); and Birdstone (2004), sire of Summer Bird (2009).

Along with Man o’ War and Bernardini, there are nine other stallions that have two Travers winners to their credit: Hall of Famers Fair Play and Tom Fool, along with Billet, King Alfonso, Enquirer, Virgil, Petee-Wrack, Mr. Prospector and Unbridled’s Song.

Whirlaway remains the lone Triple Crown winner to have also won the Travers, but he never had an impact on the Midsummer Derby as a sire. Other Triple Crown winners, however, did make their mark on the Travers during their stallion career. Gallant Fox, winner of the 1930 Triple Crown, suffered the biggest upset in Travers history when Jim Dandy dashed through the mud that summer to pull off a monumental upset at odds of 100-1. Gallant Fox, however, later sired 1936 Travers winner Granville, an eventual Hall of Famer.

Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, sired 1979 Travers winner General Assembly. On a wet track, General Assembly covered the Travers distance of 1¼ miles in 2:00, which stood as the track record until Arrogate broke the mark in 2016, setting a new standard of 1:59.36. Count Fleet, winner of the 1943 Triple Crown, also sired a Travers winner, One Count (1952).

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING AND HALL OF FAME Lexington, depicted by artist Edward Troye, sired nine of the first 15 Travers Stakes winners, including Hall of Fame members Kentucky, Harry Bassett and Duke of Magenta.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING AND HALL OF FAME Hall of Famer Easy Goer won the Travers Stakes in 1989.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING AND HALL OF FAME Winner of the 1959 Travers, Sword Dancer sired Damascus, winner of the 1967 Travers by 22 lengths.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING AND HALL OF FAME Shown here at Saratoga at the 1920 Travers with Andy Schuttinger up, Man o’ War won that year’s race in a track record time that stood 42 years. He sired two Travers winners, Mars (1926) and War Hero (1932).