Sovereignty Headlines Five-Horse Travers Field

Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) victor Sovereignty opens as a heavy favorite for the Aug. 23 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Installed as the overwhelming 2-5 choice on the morning line in the field of five announced Aug. 17, the son of Into Mischief will vie for his fourth consecutive win and fifth of the year when he makes his expected start in the $1,250,000 race. Coming off a one-length win over Baeza in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), that included a career-best Equibase Speed Figure (113), Sovereignty will break from post 4. Second choice Magnitude (2-1) will try to show that his open-lengths romp in the Iowa Derby was no fluke. The Not This Time colt went gate to wire to prevail by 9 1/4 lengths in his return following surgery for a bone chip in his left front ankle. He had an impressive 9 3/4-length win in the Risen Star Stakes (G2) as a 43-1 underdog that put him on a path toward the Kentucky Derby, but the injury discovered after that win derailed those aspirations for the camp of trainer Steve Asmussen. Magnitude worked a half-mile in :50.22 Sunday on Saratoga's Oklahoma training track. Trainer Chad Brown will attempt to win his first Travers with up-and-coming Strategic Focus (6-1), who fell short in the listed Curlin Stakes. He had the lead by a length at the top of the stretch, but finished third, a half-length short. A pair of 20-1 longshots round out the field for the 1 1/4 mile test. Placed in three straight graded stakes, McAfee didn't live up to his favoritism in the West Virginia Derby (G3) last time out. Fourth in the Haskell Stakes (G1), Bracket Buster looks to live up to his name and upend the odds by getting his first graded stakes triumph.