Travers Starters Work at Saratoga

Likely Travers Stakes (gr. I) starters Albert the Great, Impeachment, and Milwaukee Brew were in action at Saratoga Sunday morning in workouts preparing for Saturday’s $1-million race. Meanwhile, Haskell Invitational (gr. I) winner Dixie Union, Curule, Unshaded, and Country Coast each galloped over the track in preparation for the Travers.

Dwyer Stakes (gr. II) winner Albert the Great worked five furlongs in :59 2/5 over the main track without blinkers, and trainer Nick Zito says he will not be equipped with them in the 1 1/4-mile Travers either. “He’s been working without them and he’s just as fast,” said Zito. “I needed to switch things up a bit after the Jim Dandy. We’re just trying something new. He needed them in the spring to keep him focused. He knows he’s a racehorse now.”

Jorge Chavez will replace Richard Migliore aboard Albert the Great for the Travers. Migliore, meanwhile, picked up the mount on Impeachment.

Impeachment, trained by Todd Pletcher, worked five furlongs in 1:04 over the Oklahoma training track with Migliore aboard and in company with Canfield. “Impeachment and Canfield broke off in :39 and change and finished up in :24 1/5,” said Pletcher. “I like the way Impeachment finished and I like the way he galloped out.”

Continuing the trend of 3-year-olds with new jockeys for the Travers is Stronach Stable’s Milwaukee Brew, who will be ridden by Jerry Bailey rather than Michael McCarthy. McCarthy guided the son of Wild Again to a win in the Ohio Derby (gr. II) and was also in the irons for his third-place finish in the Haskell.

Bailey was aboard for Sunday’s work, in which the Tino Attard trainee covered five furlongs in 1:00 4/5. Milwaukee Brew went in splits of :24 and :36 3/5 and did not gallop out after the work. “He likes it here,” said Attard, who continued to say the colt was kicking and squealing after the work.

The Travers field, with jockeys, is likely to consist of: Dixie Union, Alex Solis; Commendable, Pat Day; Country Coast, no rider named; Albert the Great, Chavez; Curule, Mike Smith; Unshaded, Shane Sellers; Postponed, Edgar Prado; Milwaukee Brew, Bailey; and Impeachment, Migliore.