3 Best Bets to Win the 2025 Travers Stakes

Key takeaways:

• Sovereignty (2-5) is the heavy favorite, bringing Derby, Belmont, and Jim Dandy wins plus newfound tactical speed.
• Magnitude (2-1) looms as the main threat, with dazzling wins before and after injury, though untested at 1 ¼ miles.
• Strategic Focus (6-1) adds blinkers and has pedigree upside for the distance, making him the most intriguing longshot.

The flagship race of the summer meet at Saratoga is the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Saturday, August 23. The 1 ¼-mile dirt race, held annually and open to three-year-olds, is called the Midsummer Derby for good reason. The race regularly draws top horses from the Triple Crown series, as well as later bloomers who are ready to make an impact in the second half of the year.

With a history dating back to 1864, making it one of the oldest events in American racing, some of the greatest competitors in horse racing history have been Travers Stakes winners. The inaugural Belmont Stakes winner and star filly Ruthless, the almost-perfect Man o’ War, quintessential upset darling Jim Dandy, Triple Crown winner Whirlaway, hard-fighting Alydar, the impressive Holy Bull, and the dizzying Arrogate … all of these horses are Travers winners.

Although the 2025 edition of the Travers Stakes drew just five entries, there is a thrilling competition on the horizon. Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty leads the field. He comes into the race off a win in the Jim Dandy, the local prep in New York, and his class and consistency ensure that he will lead Travers Stakes betting markets. Among the four horses who lined up to face him, however, lurks a fascinating new challenge: Magnitude, who won the Risen Star (G2) in dazzling fashion as a 43-1 outsider, took several months off for injury, but returned just as good in the Iowa Derby.

The other three contenders will be longshots. Strategic Focus, a well-bred but lightly raced runner for Chad Brown, is the only horse coming out of the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. McAfee, a frontrunner who has raced at Monmouth this summer, and McAfee, the West Virginia Derby (G3) runner-up and half-brother to last year’s Travers Stakes runner-up Thorpedo Anna, round out the field.

The Travers Stakes is the 13th of 14 races on Saturday’s top-class card at Saratoga Race Course. In addition to the Travers there are five other graded-stakes races on the card: the Forego (G1) for older sprinters, the Ballerina (G1) for filly and mare sprinters, the Personal Ensign (G1) for older filly and mare dirt routers, the H. Allen Jerkens (G1) for sophomore sprinters, and the Lake Placid (G2) for sophomore turf mile fillies. The card gets underway at 11:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, with the Travers set for 6:14 p.m. EDT.

These are the three best bets for the Travers Stakes:

1. Sovereignty (2025 Travers Stakes odds: 2-5)

Sovereignty will be a heavy favorite in the Travers, but there is good reason for that. In short, he keeps showing up in the biggest races. He broke his maiden in a Kentucky Derby points race last year, the Street Sense (G3). He won the Fountain of Youth (G2) in his sophomore debut, and though he was second in the Florida Derby (G1), he had already punched his ticket to Louisville, and he had a replacement jockey since Junior Alvarado was recovering from an injury. Alvarado was back for the Run for the Roses—and he won that, the Belmont Stakes, and the Jim Dandy. Owner Godolphin lets Mott be as cautious and deliberate as he wants with Sovereignty’s schedule, and that has paid off with win after win after win, against top horses like Journalism and Baeza.

If this race had come right after the Kentucky Derby, there would be some serious pace questions about this son of Into Mischief. After all, he made his name as a stone-cold closer, and took advantage of a rollicking early pace when he won the Kentucky Derby. However, a funny thing happened in the Belmont Stakes. The pace in front of him was more modest, and he responded by showing tactical speed and still winning impressively. He showed in the Jim Dandy that this new dimension was no fluke, stalking an even slower pace and winning that race as well. So, no matter whether Magnitude and Bracket Buster (and possibly even the blinkers-on Strategic Focus) light some early fireworks or the pace is more modest, Sovereignty has the versatility to work the right trip under jockey Junior Alvarado and bring Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his first Travers victory.

In short, if Sovereignty shows up for his normal day at the office, he is fast, versatile, and consistent enough to justify the heavy Travers Stakes betting action and make sense as a single in multi-race wagers, especially for bettors who like a price in another leg of the sequence, like the Ballerina or the Forego.

2. Magnitude (2025 Travers Stakes odds: 2-1)

Among the rest of the field for the Travers Stakes, the one horse with the most upside to spring the upset is Magnitude. Many were wondering what could have been after Magnitude won the Risen Star (G2) in February at Fair Grounds: the Steve Asmussen trainee was 43-1 on the tote board, but looked like odds-on chalk as he drew off to win by 9 ¾ lengths. He came out of the race injured, meaning he was unable to even try to back it up in the Louisiana Derby or the Kentucky Derby.

Fortunately, his recovery went swimmingly. He returned in the Iowa Derby on July 5. The tote board looked a lot different, as his odds were 7-10 and not 43-1. However, Magnitude looked just the same as he did before the layoff, bouncing to the lead and rolling clear to a 9 ¼-length score.

This race will be tougher for several reasons. He has won going as long as 1 ⅛ miles, but has yet to try 1 ¼—in fact, Sovereignty is the only horse in the field who has gone that distance. However, Magnitude is by Not This Time out of a Bernardini daughter of Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) winner Octave, meaning there is at least a chance to stretch out longer. There is also the question of pace: he has seized the lead and gotten things his own way in his last two, but this time, Bracket Buster is a confirmed frontrunner, and Strategic Focus may even show more speed with blinkers. But, Magnitude might prove fastest from the fence, and he has also shown some ability to fight and keep going in some of his juvenile races. Especially if speed is holding well, Magnitude could be a tough target for Sovereignty to reel in.

3. Strategic Focus (2025 Travers Stakes odds: 6-1)

Among the rest of the field, Strategic Focus has the most upside. He is lightly raced, with just three starts behind him. Compare that to the 2-for-8 Bracket Buster or the 1-for-7 McAfee; though both are also trying the distance for the first time, they both come in with serious class questions. Strategic Focus has not proven his class yet, as he hasn’t raced above restricted-stakes company. However, he ran a credible third in the Curlin last out, just being caught by two foes, including his Grade 1-winning stablemate Chancer McPatrick.

Strategic Focus may also have regressed from a huge effort second out, when he crossed the wire first in a 1 ⅛-mile allowance race on the dirt track at Saratoga on June 6 and was taken down for interference late. He and the horse put ahead of him, his older stablemate Malarchuk, crossed the finish almost a dozen lengths clear of the rest that day. And, Malarchuk has already come back to win a second-level allowance in his next start—so, it suffices to say that was a quality race.

Strategic Focus will need to, ironically enough, find some focus here, as he hasn’t been the best gate horse and has done some green things through his races. However, he adds blinkers, a positive move for trainer Chad Brown. He also has pedigree upside for the stretch to 1 ¼ miles, given that he is by Gun Runner out of a Curlin mare. Those are two of the best classic influences going today, and if they give him the stamina, he could work a stalking trip and finish well.

New to FanDuel Racing? Place your first bet up to $500 and get it back in Racing Bonus if it doesn’t win! Valid in participating states. See here for full terms and conditions. Head over to FanDuel Racing to see all of today’s horse racing odds.

Looking for more horse racing betting opportunities? Head over to FanDuel Racing to see all of today’s horse racing odds.