The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing gets most of the attention from casual sports fans when it comes to horse racing. However, the sport doesn’t end when the Belmont Stakes wraps up in early June. Late August provides one of the biggest races of the year—and arguably the biggest outside the Triple Crown events—in the Travers Stakes, which takes place Saturday.
Nicknamed the Midsummer Derby, this race is open to 3-year-old horses and contested over 1¼ miles at Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York. It is the oldest stakes race in the United States specifically for 3-year-olds, dating back to 1864. The 2026 Travers Stakes will be the 157th running of the event, and here’s what you need to know.
What’s at Stake?
In addition to a $1.25 million purse, the honors of both Horse of the Year and American 3-year-old Champion could be on the line in this race. Golden Tempo, courtesy of winning the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, is the favorite for those honors, but a number of other colts could challenge him with a win. Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo is also in the Travers field, as is Haskell Stakes champion Baby Vino.
There have been 25 Travers Stakes winners who went on to be named American 3-year-old Champion, as well as 10 Travers Stakes winners who’ve been named Horse of the Year. That includes Sovereignty just last year, who claimed both year-end awards, as the Travers Stakes is often the tipping point in receiving these honors.
The Contenders
Golden Tempo is the headliner. After skipping the Preakness, the Derby-Belmont double champion can reach the third leg of the Horse Racing Grand Slam with a Saturday win. Those two victories were his only races over the last five months, so you have to wonder if rust will be a factor come Saturday.
Napoleon Solo followed up his Preakness triumph with a Haskell Stakes runner-up. The Travers Stakes will be a true test for him, as he’s never competed at a distance longer than 1 3/16 miles, though he did break maiden at Saratoga last August.
Other contenders include Renegade, who has finished in the money in all eight of his career starts, as well as Sea Strike. The latter is a new name to many as he didn’t race in any Triple Crown event, but he’s coming off an impressive victory at this very track earlier this month at the Curlin Stakes.
The Longshots
The Puma is a horse going in the wrong direction. He followed up his lone victory in March with a runner-up later that month, then a fourth-place finish in his ensuing race. However, the horse also has a trump card in his jockey, Javier Castellano. With seven Travers Stakes victories, Castellano is the winningest person in the race’s history, as no other jockey, trainer, or owner has as many victories at this event.
Elsewhere, Baby Vino can’t be counted out. His Haskell win gives him a three-race win streak, though he’ll also be stepping up in class in attempting a 1 ¼ mile race for the first time. Emerging Market also has as impressive a pedigree as any horse in the field. The Louisiana Derby winner is the son of a horse who already resides in the Racing Hall of Fame: Gun Runner was both the 2017 Horse of the Year and American 3-year-old Champion.
The Trainers
A pair of trainers saddling Travers Stakes horses may have a little extra motivation to claim this race, considering their backgrounds. Cherie DeVaux is a native of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., so this is a home start for her, and she would have home-track advantage if it wasn’t for Chad Brown also being from the area.
Brown worked at Saratoga Raceway in high school, and he’s giving himself two opportunities to win his first Travers Stakes. Brown is the only trainer with multiple entries in the 10-horse field, Sea Strike and Emerging Market.
As for DeVaux, she can make more horse racing history with a win. In May, she became the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, and now in her hometown, she can become just the third female trainer to win the Travers Stakes.
The 2026 Travers Stakes is the 13th of 14 scheduled races for the full Travers Stakes Card on Saturday. The expected post time is 6:35 p.m. ET, and the race will be broadcast by Fox.
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