all in Triple Crown

It took 17 long years of waiting, but the moment was everything Jack Knowlton expected.

Maybe it was even better.

As Knowlton held a box with a trophy in reward for Tiz the Law’s decisive victory in the $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes, the founder and operational manager of the group that owns the son of Constitution, had a smile that even a facial mask could not hide.

The $1 million, Grade 1 Runhappy Travers Stakes is undoubtedly the biggest race on a star-studded card at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, Aug. 8.

For the longest time, the Runhappy Travers Stakes has been considered a Derby, specifically the “Mid-Summer Derby.” Yet in a world battling COVID-19, the 2020 Travers is actually more like the first Saturday in May Kentucky Derby than the actual Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve in September.

At the start of 2020, no one could’ve predicted that the final 50-point Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prep race would take place on the second Sunday in August at a Kentucky racetrack that's about two hours west of Louisville.

Tom Pedulla is interviewing prominent owners, trainers, and jockeys for America’s Best Racing as they travel the Road to the $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. The Derby has been rescheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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