Leading Change, Three Starts In, Upsets the Travers at 12-1
Brad Cox's lightly raced Gun Runner colt ran down Napoleon Solo and held off dual classic winner Golden Tempo in the 157th Midsummer Derby at Saratoga.
A colt making just his third career start walked off with the Midsummer Derby. Leading Change, sent off at 12-1, ran down pacesetter Napoleon Solo in the final strides to win the 157th Travers Stakes by a half-length at Saratoga on Saturday, covering the mile and a quarter in 2:02.98, according to Horse Racing Sense.
The favorite settles for third
The result stung most for Golden Tempo, winner of this year's Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, who went off as the 5-2 morning-line favorite per BRISnet. The dual classic winner rallied late under Jose Ortiz but could not get past the two horses stacked in front of him, finishing third behind Leading Change and Napoleon Solo.
A textbook trip
The winning ride belonged to Manuel Franco, who tracked Napoleon Solo's measured fractions — :23.66, :47.95, 1:12.62 — from third before tipping outside at the top of the stretch. John Velazquez had Napoleon Solo rolling on the front end, but the son of Gun Runner wore him down in the shadow of the wire.
The making of a late-summer star
Trainer Brad Cox has managed Leading Change's light campaign carefully: a maiden win, a Grade 3 Indiana Derby score, and now a Grade 1 in the $1.25 million Travers. BRISnet described the $800,000 purchase as "short on experience but long on talent," and the description held up under the toughest test of his life.
The three-year-old division that looked settled after Golden Tempo's classic double suddenly is not. With the Breeders' Cup Classic looming in the fall, an undefeated, lightly raced colt just crashed the conversation — and the champion who beat everyone in the spring now has something to answer for.