all in The Sport

The 157th edition of the $1 million DraftKings Travers Stakes Saturday at Saratoga Race Course shapes up to be the defining race in determining 3-year-old male champion honors for 2026 at January’s Eclipse Awards. The storied “Mid-Summer Derby” is unquestionably one of the most prestigious prizes in North American Thoroughbred racing.

America’s Best Racing’s Mike Curry offers five key takeaways from an important weekend of summer racing headlined by the $1 million Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar and the $600,000 Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales at

The $1.25 million DraftKings Travers Stakes is arguably the most important race of the summer racing calendar in the United States, a 1 ¼-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course that typically attracts many of the racehorses fans got to know on that year’s Triple Crown. This year is no exception as the famed “Mid-Summer Derby” on Aug.

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.

Any doubts that Godolphin's homebred Knightsbridge would be able to handle the 1 1/4 miles of the $1,003,000 Grade 1 Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar evaporated at the top of the stretch Aug.

newsletter sign-up

Stay up-to-date with the best from America's Best Racing!

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram TikTok YouTube
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram TikTok YouTube