It looks like each time there’s a Grade 1 race for 3-year-olds this summer time, a brand new face emerges. This time, it was Main Change taking the highlight as jockey Manny Franco guided the up-and-coming however evenly raced son of Gun Runner previous Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo in deep stretch to win the $1.25 million Grade 1 DraftKings Travers Stakes August 29 at Saratoga Race Course.
Educated by Brad Cox, Main Change got here into the Midsummer Derby off simply two prior lifetime races together with a maiden win in June and a victory within the Grade 3 Indiana Derby in July. His lack of expertise going into the Travers, nonetheless, was outweighed by superior expertise. Main Change ran down a sport Napoleon Solo within the ultimate yards to publish a half-length victory in Saratoga’s “Midsummer Derby” for 3-year-olds.
Main Change’s victory got here on the expense of the winners of all three 2026 Triple Crown races together with Napoleon Solo in second. Golden Tempo, the winner of each the Kentucky Derby introduced by Woodford Reserve and the Belmont Stakes introduced by NYRA Bets, completed third. The working time for the 1 1/4 miles was 2:02.98. Main Change paid $22.76 to win.
“I felt he was a real mile-and-a-quarter horse simply by the best way he educated alongside. He is colt,” Cox stated of Main Change. “I am glad he confirmed up at the moment. On the finish of the day, even with the shortage of seasoning, he was in a position to get the job finished with expertise and we’re very pleased with him.”
By Horse of the 12 months and Breeders’ Cup Traditional winner Gun Runner, and a half-brother to Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil, Main Change absolutely had the pedigree so as to add credence to Cox’s perception in his stamina.
“The pedigree kicked in,” Cox stated.
Golden Tempo rallied from ninth within the discipline of 10 to complete 2 ¼ lengths behind the winner on a day when the pecking order within the 3-year-old division took a blow, although the dual-classic winner stays the chief heading into the Breeders’ Cup.
“I believe in the event that they voted at the moment, Golden Tempo deserves to take dwelling the Eclipse Award,” Cox stated. “That is the Midsummer Derby, although we do not have half the yr left. We’ll see how issues shake out. We’ll take (Main Change) again dwelling to Kentucky and I am unsure the place we’ll land or find yourself, however we’ll transfer him ahead.”
For Cox, it was his second victory within the Midsummer Derby after Important High quality’s win within the 2021 version. For house owners Wathnan Racing (Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar), it was the fourth North American Grade 1 win and second of the yr. Commandment garnered the proprietor’s first within the Curlin Florida Derby.
Napoleon Solo set the tempo within the 157th working of the Travers, main by a couple of size over Curlin Stakes winner Sea Strike by means of reasonable fractions of :23.66, :47.95, and 1:12.62 whereas favored Golden Tempo and Renegade, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Jim Dandy Stakes introduced by Mohegan Solar winner, raced on the very again about 16 lengths behind after a half a mile. Sea Strike mounted a bid for the lead on the high of the stretch however a decided Napoleon Solo and John Velazquez fended him off. Golden Tempo launched a bid alongside the within however couldn’t maintain it. Sea Strike pale to sixth. Renegade did not get better from a foul begin and completed eighth.
As an alternative, it was Main Change. After breaking on high however then settling into third alongside the rail within the early phases, he moved exterior in higher stretch to collar Napoleon Solo on the sixteenth pole and edged away within the ultimate strides.
For Manny Franco, who’s within the midst of a sensational yr on the Spa with 58 wins (simply seven wins behind jockey wins chief Jose Ortiz), a second Travers win added a giant exclamation level to his meet.
“I had the journey that we anticipated. We wished to be ahead behind Napoleon Solo and Sea Strike,” stated Franco, who received the 2020 Travers on Tiz the Legislation. “I simply sat on the rail the entire means round. We turned for dwelling, I put him on the surface and he leveled out. He was digging in.”
For Chad Summers, who trains a number of Grade 1 winner Napoleon Solo, the race combined disappointment and satisfaction. “He exhibits up each time he runs. I am pleased with the horse, all the time.”
Summers stated the son of Liam’s Map can be nominated to each the Breeders’ Cup Grime Mile and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional.
For Golden Tempo, the loss ended hopes of matching 2025’s Horse of the 12 months Sovereignty‘s trio of wins within the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers wins a yr in the past.
“He was far again,” coach Cherie DeVaux stated following Golden Tempo’s first begin because the June 6 Belmont Stakes. “It simply did not work out with the shortage of tempo. He had an excessive amount of to do. He got here again tremendous and that is what’s vital.”
Saratoga’s Travers Day attendance was 47,659 and the all-sources deal with was $60,863,320, the second highest in Travers historical past.
