Expert Pick of the Week: 2026 Travers Stakes

Aug 26, 2026 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

Sea Strike wins the Curlin. (Photo by Coglianese Photo / Credit to Chelsea Durrand)

A fantastic field of 10 three-year-old horses will travel 1 1/4 miles over the Saratoga dirt surface in Saturday’s $1.25 million Travers (G1). The ‘Midsummer Derby’ has attracted the winners of each of the legs of the Triple Crown, and eight of the 10 set to go postward in the storied race have secured a graded stakes triumph prior to Saturday. One of the two that has yet to earn a graded win is the Chad Brown-trained Sea Strike, who I feel has a fine chance to upset this cast in his first top-level try.

One of two in the cast for the leading conditioner at the meeting, the late bloomer broke his maiden at Aqueduct in April in a sprint run. Following a subpar allowance run while sprinting on this course on June 6, the sophomore returned to contest the Curlin S. at 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 2. The chestnut colt was forwardly placed early in his stakes debut and left his rivals in his wake late in an ultra-impressive performance. Sea Strike was full of run through the wire in his initial two-turn test to win by 8 1/4 widening lengths, and he is lightly raced enough to expect another step in the right direction against this field.

The $650,000 two-year-old purchase has trained in excellent fashion all summer at this venue and continues to thrive in advance of his toughest assignment to date. By the underrated Midshipman, the Kentucky-bred has tactical speed in a cast with numerous late runners on board and will get the jump at the top of the lane on the deep-closing types. Regular pilot Flavien Prat will once again guide the three-year-old.

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Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont (G1) star Golden Tempo has taken the next step forward since having blinkers added three races back and is the one to beat for conditioner Cherie DeVaux. The classy son of Curlin is customarily slow early and very fast late, and the homebred comes in fresh for this event for a very good layoff trainer. He is two-for-two at the 10-furlong distance and has reportedly been working in forward fashion in preparation for his second run on the course with Jose Ortiz in the stirrups.

Grade 1 winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Renegade got back to his winning ways with a stellar late showing in the Jim Dandy (G2), the local prep race for the Travers, last time out for trainer Todd Pletcher. The standout son of Into Mischief earned a whopping 123 Brisnet Late Pace rating for his last attempt at 1 1/8 miles on the oval, and he will be a formidable foe late on Saturday with even slight improvement off of that effort. With Irad Ortiz, Jr. injured and unable to ride, Tyler Gaffalione will take the reins atop the powerful colt.

Expert Pick

An exacta with #7 Sea Strike on top of #5 Renegade and #9 Golden Tampo in the 2026 Travers Stakes is the Best Bet of the Week.