Horse Of The Year

Street Sense Travels Road to Horse of Year Honors

Shortly after the Triple Crown races ended in June, there was talk of the three winners meeting in a stakes race and, ultimately, in the Breeders Cup Classic.

That ended when Belmont winner Rags to Riches came up with minor physical setbacks and trainer Todd Pletcher decided the filly would stick to her own gender and the BC Distaff would be the main goal.

Then Preakness winner Curlin went in the Haskell instead of the Travers, finishing a disappointing third behind Any Given Saturday. Then trainer Steve Asmussen announced his colt would train up to the BC Classic.

Only Street Sense has remained on course, thanks to trainer Carl Nafzgers strategy. The son of Street Cry captured the Jim Dandy and enters the Travers en route to the BC Classic at Monmouth Park in the fall.

On Saturday, the Kentucky Derby winner continues on the championship road that may lead to top three-year-old and Horse of the Year honors.

Individual winners of all three Triple Crown jewels only met once in 137 runnings of the Travers. That was in 1982 when runners included Kentucky Derby champ Gato Del Sol, Preakness victor Alomas Ruler and Belmont winner Conquistador Cielo.

However, 13-1 Runaway Groom, who captured two of three Canadian Triple Crown contests, pulled the upset. The son of Blushing Groom captured top three-year-old honors in that country.

Whirlaway is the only Triple Crown winner to take the Travers - in 41.

Street Sense won face the toughest opposition in a field that may reach nine. Only Imawildandcrazyguy and C P West ran in Triple Crown races, but neither hit the board. In fact, both are looking for their first stakes victory.

C P West did finish second to Street Sense in the Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga. The son of Came Home went four furlongs in 46 3/5 on August 16.

"He worked great," said trainer Nick Zito. "He had a strong gallop-out, too. I was happy about that."

Zito has had at least one Travers runner in seven of the last years, winning with �4 Belmont Stakes victor Birdstone.

Three colts have one victory each, including Sightseeing, third in the Jim Dandy, who captured the Peter Pan on May 20 at Belmont. The son of Pulpit, who has been in the money all six of his �7 outings, breezed five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 - Sundays top workout on the training track.

Loose Leaf, coming off a victory in the Lemon Drop Kid Stakes on August 5, breezed five furlongs in 1:02 1/5 last Saturday.

"It was something simple, something easy - he just needed something that would continue him to focus in on finishing," trainer Ken McPeek said.

Another likely Zito starter, Helsinki, was fourth in the Lemon Drop Kid, but "he had a big excuse," the trainer said. "Hes a natural mile-and-a-quarter horse (the Travers distance). We had blinkers on him. He had some trouble. Im going to take the blinkers off."

Tiz Wonderful was victorious in a pair of two-year-old stakes last year, but an injury knocked him off the Triple Crown trail. The son of two-time BC Classic winner Tiznow finished a disappointing sixth in the Jim Dandy, but breezed an impressive 1:14 for six furlongs on August 13.

Obviously, Street Sense is the horse to beat. He went a nifty 59 3/5 for five furlongs with regular ride Calvin Borel aboard on August 15 in what Nafzger called a "good, solid work."

Greg Melikov weighs in weekly with his online horse race handicapping events, news, betting tips and expert analysis of the racebook industry and horse racing in general.

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