Pedigree fun facts: 2026 Travers Stakes

Aug 28, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

The Puma, shown winning the Tampa Bay Derby, is by 2021 Travers champion Essential Quality (Photo by SV Photography)

Hall of Famers Curlin and A.P. Indy never ran in the Travers (G1), but their influence looms large in the pedigrees of Saturday’s contenders at Saratoga.

The prime example is Golden Tempo, the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont (G1) hero. A son of Curlin, Golden Tempo is out of a mare by A.P. Indy’s champion son, Bernardini.

Curlin has already sired a Travers winner in Keen Ice, who stunned Triple Crown sweeper American Pharoah in the 2015 edition.

Bernardini himself romped in the Travers, exactly 20 years ago to the day on Saturday, during his championship season in 2006. In addition to siring Travers victors Stay Thirsty (2011) and Alpha (in a dead heat in 2012), Bernardini is also the maternal grandfather of two more winners in Catholic Boy (2018) and Sovereignty (2025).

Sovereignty is by leading sire Into Mischief, who sends out Renegade in the Travers. Arguably Golden Tempo’s main rival, Renegade also has Curlin and Bernardini prominent in his pedigree.

Renegade’s dam (mother), Grade 3 winner Spice Is Nice, is bred on the same cross as Golden Tempo, being by Curlin and out of a Bernardini mare. Spice Is Nice is a direct female-line descendant of Ace Card, who foaled the 1952 Belmont and Travers star One Count.

Golden Tempo also traces to a Travers-producing mare. His ancestress, Filante, produced 1940 winner Fenelon.

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The Puma is the only entrant sired by a Travers winner. He is from the first crop of champion Essential Quality, who turned the Belmont/Travers double in 2021. As a son of the great patriarch Tapit, Essential Quality represents A.P. Indy's male line.

The Puma’s extended female line boasts four Travers winners. Hailing from the family labeled 4-r, he shares matrilineal ancestry with Maiden (1865), Falsetto (1879), Runaway Groom (1982), and V E Day (2014).

Emerging Market is a direct descendant of Tap Day, the mother of 1964 Travers victor Quadrangle. But Quadrangle may be better remembered for winning that year’s Belmont, when Northern Dancer was attempting to sweep the Triple Crown. Digging deeper into Emerging Market’s family, one finds the 1927 Travers scorer, Brown Bud.

Emerging Market’s sire, unbeaten Argentine-bred superstar Candy Ride, factors in the pedigree of 2022 Travers champion Epicenter. Candy Ride appears as Epicenter’s maternal grandfather.

Candy Ride’s most accomplished son, Hall of Famer and outstanding sire Gun Runner, has Leading Change in the Travers. Gun Runner, who was third in Arrogate’s track record-setting 2016 Travers, has had three sons place in this race – Cyberknife and Disarm, runners-up in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and champion Sierra Leone, the third-placer in 2024.

Leading Change is a half-brother to 2020 Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Shedaresthedevil, an earner of more than $2.7 million. Shedaresthedevil and Leading Change are both out of Starship Warpspeed, by A.P. Indy’s son Congrats.

Silent Tactic’s pedigree could be described as a mirror image of Leading Change, since he is bred on the reverse cross of an A.P. Indy-line sire over a Gun Runner mare. Silent Tactic is actually inbred to A.P. Indy, who also shows up in his mother’s ancestry.

Silent Tactic is by the Tapit stallion Tacitus, a $4.2 million-earner. Elevated to third via disqualification in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, Tacitus finished second in the 2019 Belmont and Travers.

Travers rival Napoleon Solo comes from the same family as Silent Tactic, both descendants of the influential matron Baracala. Silent Tactic descends from Baracala’s Group 1-winning daughter, Maximova. Napoleon Solo descends from another of Baracala’s daughters, Group 2 vixen Navratilovna. Further back, this is the family of 1956 Travers scorer, Our Johnny. Keep going through the direct maternal line of descent, and you’ll find *Cinq a Sept, the 1927 Irish Oaks winner and ancestress of 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat.

Napoleon Solo and Ocelli are both out of mares by Scat Daddy, sire of 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify. That same season, another son of Scat Daddy, Mendelssohn, placed second in the Travers.

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Ocelli is by Curlin’s son Connect. Sixth in Arrogate’s Travers, Connect went on to win the Pennsylvania Derby (G2) over Gun Runner.

On the maternal side of his pedigree, Ocelli comes from the same female line as Jim Dandy, famous for upsetting 1930 Triple Crown legend Gallant Fox in the Travers. But you have to go back more than 300 years to pinpoint the common ancestress of Jim Dandy and Ocelli! They descend from two different daughters of Milbanke’s Black Mare, who was foaled in the early 18th century. Jim Dandy traces to her unnamed daughter by Soreheels, while another daughter, Gipsy, is the ancestress of Ocelli.

Baby Vino is by another son of Curlin, champion Vino Rosso. Fifth in the 2018 Travers, Vino Rosso went on to win the 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), as Curlin had done in 2007. Baby Vino’s mother is by Discreetly Mine, a scion of the A.P. Indy sire line who won the King’s Bishop (G1) (now the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial) on Travers Day 2010. Thus, Baby Vino is bred along similar lines to Golden Tempo, crossing Curlin and A.P. Indy, if through different representatives of those sires.

Baby Vino’s ancestress, Grade 1 winner Sugar and Spice, is a half-sister to Hall of Famer Alydar. The archrival of 1978 Triple Crown champion Affirmed, Alydar was awarded the Travers when Affirmed was disqualified for interference. This female line, numbered 9-c, has also furnished Travers winners Hannibal (1919), Vallera (1891), and D’Artagnan (1875), so far the only maiden to score a breakthrough in this race.

Sea Strike is by Midshipman, who emulated his own sire, Unbridled’s Song, by capturing the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). If Sea Strike can step up in the Travers, he would help Midshipman echo Unbridled’s Song in another way. Unbridled’s Song sired two Travers winners, champion Will Take Charge (2013) and Hall of Famer Arrogate.

Note that Napoleon Solo is likewise by a Breeders’ Cup-winning son of Unbridled’s Song, 2015 Dirt Mile (G1) victor Liam’s Map.