Sovereignty Wins, Bracket Buster Places, Magnitude Shows

Surging in the last furlong, Sovereignty handily put Bracket Buster ten lengths behind him at the wire to take the 156th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday. For its part in Sovereignty’s shockingly dominant spring and summer campaign, Saratoga’s supposedly dream-busting track served only to cement the winner’s sheer dominance of his division. Ten lengths back, Bracket Buster held on to second, and the somewhat warmly touted second-favorite, Magnitude, finished in show, a breathtaking 20 and three-fourths lengths behind Sovereignty. Comparisons of any horse to Secretariat are difficult at best, but Sovereignty’s winning margin against the field were Secretariat-like.

It was as if there were two races being run; one run by Sovereignty, and the second run by the remaining four. Magnitude’s trainer Steve Asmussen bit through his disappointment to observe in a most sporting manner that Sovereignty’s talent was generational. The race was Sovereignty trainer William Mott’s first Travers win.

Magnitude had come down from the 2-1 morning line by post time to go off at 7-2, but Bracket Buster, who went off at 17-1 to place, pleased his trainer Victoria Oliver by stepping smartly out of the pack to challenge Sovereignty briefly at the top of the stretch. His rather short-lived mini-duel with Sovereignty at the top of the stretch certainly gave her room for hope, who said, “He ran a big, big race. I think it’s hard to say you have a shot against that horse (Sovereignty), but turning for home I thought we were going to run tough. We just got beat by a better horse. It’s good money for second and he showed that he belongs.”