ELMONT, NEW YORK – JUNE 10: Arcangelo with Javier Castellano up wins the 155th running of the … [+]
Although the phenom Forte was long touted to take the 2023 Travers, a brilliant ride by Javier Castellano allowed the Belmont Stakes winner and second favorite Arcangelo to mop up the field. Disarm, who had been really impressive in his improvement in training, and who had inspired much trackside-maven chatter over the last weeks, placed well and truly, despite going off at 12-1, next-to-lowest of the low men on the totem pole of probability to take the race. Joel Rosario, Disarm’s talented jockey, did an artist’s job taking the supposed “speed” horse through the mile-and-a-quarter to second.
Ironically holding to that classic upset form, Tapit Trice, Pletcher-trained but nevertheless, at 13-1, the longest of longshots of the field of seven as the gates swung open, managed to show. Arcangelo paid a relatively healthy $7.40, Disarm paid $8.00, and Tapit Trice paid $6.00 in third.
Living up to its billing as the track with the ability to thwart champion race horses, Saratoga and this year’s very tough Travers field did not allow the Kentucky Derby winner Mage, the Preakness winner National Treasure, nor the race’s own favorite Forte, to snake into the top three. That, itself, cements the track’s and the feature’s grand, fearsome ‘spoiler’ legend.
The money at Saratoga hemmed and hawed all afternoon between Forte and Archangelo as the favorites. In the early betting, Forte was the narrow favorite, replaced late in the afternoon by Arcangelo, who then slid back down to co-favorite and then second-favorite by post time. Clawing his way back up to becoming the favorite at post time, Forte, slotted into and through the early running but did not factor in the race, finishing a lackluster fourth.
For the players, Saratoga and the NYRA offered far more fun in the Travers’ exotics: a $1.00 exacta paid $36.25, and the 50-cent trifecta paid $140.75.
The lesson to be learned there is a simple one: When betting at the “Graveyard Of Champions,” do please remember to bet with the track firmly in mind.