In 1864, New York businessman William R. Travers joined John Morrissey, Leonard Jerome, and other prominent men in building Saratoga Race Course, the historic racetrack now home to many of the sport’s biggest stakes each year. Included on this list of valued stakes is Travers’s namesake race, a feature for 3-year-olds nicknamed the “Mid-Summer Derby.” The man himself, who also co-owned a prominent stable during the last half of the 19^th Century, even celebrated the first edition of his namesake race by winning it with his legendary colt Kentucky, son of Lexington. 

More than 150 years later, the Travers Stakes still stands as a prime target for the best that the 3-year-old division has to offer. Alongside the prestige of a win in this historic race comes the chance to hold a trophy that is almost as famous as the Travers itself. 

It Starts with An Immortal

The Man o' War Cup (Alysse Jacobs photo)

By 1920, the Travers Stakes had become one of the signature races of Saratoga’s late summer season and a destination for the year’s best 3-year-olds. The list of victors boasted names like Ruthless, the winner of the inaugural Belmont Stakes; and Kentucky Derby winners Baden Baden, Hindoo, Azra, and Omar Khayyam. Among the highlights of its early years were the 1918 edition, which featured the winners of all three of the Triple Crown races, years before the three were called such. Man o’ War’s presence in the 1920 Travers was a given considering owner Samuel Riddle’s fondness for the racetrack and its prestigious reputation. 

When Man o’ War rolled across the finish line at Saratoga, his time equaled the track record for 1¼ miles that Sir Barton had set nearly three weeks earlier in the Saratoga Handicap. That performance ignited calls for the 3-year-old juggernaut to meet the horse that stood out as the best amongst Man o’ War’s elders. Nearly two months after the Travers, Man o’ War and Sir Barton faced the starter for “the Race of the Century,” a match race set against the backdrop of not Saratoga nor Churchill Downs nor Belmont Park, but at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario.

Promoter A.M. “Abe” Orpen, who not only owned the racetrack but also set up the match race itself, offered the victor a $75,000 purse and commissioned Tiffany to create a gold cup, valued at $5,000, to commemorate the occasion. On Oct. 12, 1920, Man o’ War won the 1¼-mile match race by seven lengths, taking the rich purse and that gold cup. Newspapers ran a photograph of owner Samuel Riddle and trainer Louis Feustel holding the cup as Man o’ War gulped water from it. That moment was immortalized on film, the victory of the 20^th Century’s greatest champion forever encapsulated in its golden depths.

The trophy would stay with the Riddles for a decade and a half, until the owners of the century’s greatest horse decided to recognize the Travers’s place on the roster of historic stakes races.

A Prize Most Distinctive

The Man o' War Cup (Alysse Jacobs photo)

As five horses went to the post for the 1936 Travers Stakes, the field was competing for more than the $20,000 purse: they were also going to receive the race’s new trophy, the Man o’ War Cup, donated by Mrs. Elizabeth Riddle. The same cup that Man o’ War had drunk out of that day in 1920 would become the race’s perpetual trophy, celebrating the country’s oldest stakes for 3-year-olds. 

Today, the Man o’ War Cup lives in storage throughout the year, but, as Travers day grows closer, this priceless trophy sees daylight again. It stands 9 inches high and 12.75 inches in diameter, and is comprised of 18-carat gold atop a wooden base. Engraved around the bowl’s interior are the names of the 153 winners, including 2012’s dual winners Alpha and Golden Ticket. Below the rim of the bowl are raised letters reading “The Canadian Cup Won by Man o' War at Kenilworth October 12, 1920 in his Match Race with Sir Barton,” recognizing the origins of this immortal trophy. 

In the Travers winner’s circle, as the celebratory blanket of flowers is draped across the winning horse, the people associated with the winner gather for the ceremony recognizing their triumph. 

A member of the Riddle family and the governor or lieutenant governor of New York presents the Man o’ War Cup to the winning owners. Photographers snap away, their shots preserving the moment, that beautiful gold cup once again a reminder of the history of this oldest stakes for 3-year-olds. The Cup then goes back into storage, awaiting its next moment in the sun. 

History in a Cup

After the Travers, those owners will receive a smaller version of the trophy, a replica nearly 7 inches high and 9 inches wide commemorating their horse’s triumph. These are usually gold-plated, though sterling silver editions were made during World War II. Visitors to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will find Travers trophies on display, but not the original Man o’ War Cup. That special trophy resides with the New York Racing Association.

Each year, as the winners celebrate in the Saratoga winner’s circle, look at that gold cup and think about the great horses etched inside its bowl – Whirlaway and Easy Goer, Native Dancer and Alydar  – and think of the name boldly imprinted around its exterior, the horse that drank from its depths on that October day in 1920, Man o’ War, the greatest of the greats.