Travers Stakes 2024: Thorpedo Anna can take Saratoga feature
The summer meet at Saratoga Race Course is the most eagerly awaited of the year in New York, and the Spa reaches its crescendo Saturday, August 24 with the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes. The race is the oldest three-year-old race on the American calendar, and the proverbial Midsummer Derby always draws the best in the class.
The 2024 edition is no exception. The eight-horse field features some of the top horses in training. The morning-line favorite is Dornoch, who is flying high off of wins in the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell Stakes. He will clash with Sierra Leone again, as well as with champion Fierceness and the dazzling winner of the Kentucky Oaks, Thorpedo Anna, who faces males for the first time.
Betting on the Travers Stakes is one of the most exciting and lucrative opportunities of the year. Keep on reading to find out the best horses to play in the race, and the best places to bet the Travers Stakes online!
Where to Bet the Travers Stakes
Before betting a single dollar on the Travers Stakes, make sure you know the best places to bet the Travers Stakes online in New York. Our expert New York racebook reviews point you toward sites that all offer the basics of a great experience: smooth user interfaces, trusted payouts, and market-leading odds on horse races all year long.
Also keep in mind that you can build your bankroll even faster if you compare racebook bonuses. All of our recommended sites offer benefits including sign-up and deposit bonuses, referral benefits, and even horse racing rebates that pay you for every bet you make. Finding out which site’s offerings work best for your betting style can earn you hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars in cash and free bets!
Travers Stakes Horses
This is the official field for the 2024 Travers Stakes including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning lines:
- Thorpedo Anna (Kenny McPeek/Brian Hernandez, Jr.) - 3/1
- Sierra Leone (Chad Brown/Flavien Prat) - 7/2
- Unmatched Wisdom (Chad Brown/Irad Ortiz, Jr.) - 8/1
- Corporate Power (Shug McGaughey/Javier Castellano) - 15/1
- Batten Down (Bill Mott/Junior Alvarado) - 20/1
- Honor Marie (Whit Beckman/Tyler Gaffalione) - 20/1
- Dornoch (Danny Gargan/Luis Saez) - 5/2
- Fierceness (Todd Pletcher/John Velazquez) - 3/1
The morning-line odds can be a helpful guide toward which horses are expected to take action, and help you figure out which horses are running hot or cold on the betting board. However, the morning-line odds are not a guarantee of the prices you will get. If you bet at a track or OTB, the odds will fluctuate all the way until post time.
There is a better way. You can lock in the best Travers odds by playing at a trusted online racebook. Since online racebooks offer fixed-odds betting on the biggest races like the Travers, you can lock in your price simply by placing your wager. Then, you will be insulated from late odds shifts: the price you bet is the price you get!
These are the odds at the top of the Travers Stakes market in the best New York racebooks:
Free Travers Stakes Picks
With your new online betting account at the ready, it is time to get to know the horses and pick a winner of the 2024 Travers Stakes!
Travers Stakes Win Candidates
Trying boys in the Travers won’t be easy, but Thorpedo Anna has the tools to be effective. Though there is plenty of speed in this race and she is never far from the front, she is tactical enough to lay a length or two back. She also proved last out in the Coaching Club American Oaks that things don’t have to go her own way for her to make an impressive effort. Those tools could lead her to victory in her toughest test yet.
After the Belmont some wondered if Dornoch would be a fluke, but after the Haskell it is clear: he’s talented, gritty, and game. He can do the dirty work up front, most likely an outside pressing trip this time, and have enough in the tank to outslug a horse making a late run. Jockey Luis Saez knows what to do to let Dornoch do his thing…and in his current form, that thing could be enough to win the Travers.
Travers Stakes Exotic Contenders
With Thorpedo Anna, Dornoch, Fireceness, Unmatched Wisdom, and Batten Down all in the mix, the pace could be sizzling. That makes Honor Marie the most interesting of the real long shots in the race. He is a closer with a lot of graded experience who reliably makes a run, and the newly-added blinkers could have him a little closer up than Sierra Leone, who will be settled back in the clouds.
Sierra Leone is a consistent sort: you know what you’re going to get. And, you know you’re going to get a good effort: he has never been worse than third, and he has been keeping top-class company. The issue is, sometimes he drops too far back, and often he’ll be his own worst enemy in the lane. The fact that he has some growing up to do means he probably won’t be win value, but he fits nicely in those underneath rungs of exotics.
Travers Stakes Bets
You know the horses, and you know where you’re going to bet them. That means it is time to place your wager! Here are the best bets for the 2024 Travers Stakes:
- $20 to win - #1 Thorpedo Anna
- $1 exacta key - #1 Thorpedo Anna with #6 Honor Marie, #7 Dornoch
- $0.50 trifecta key - #1 Thorpedo Anna with #2 Sierra Leone, #6 Honor Marie, #7 Dornoch
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