Travers Stakes

Live Travers Stakes Odds from Bodog Racebook

The Travers Stakes is billed as the oldest thoroughbred horse race in the United States. It was inaugurated in 1864 and is run annually at the Saratoga Race Track in Saratoga Springs, New York.

It's a Grade I stakes race and the Travers Stakes has a $1 million purse. The Travers Stakes is open to horses that are American bred and 3 years old. This stakes race was named after William R. Travers, who was the Saratoga racing Association president. He has a horse named Kentucky and it won the very first Travers Stakes.

Back in 1999, the Travers Stakes purse was bumped up to $1 million. It's become the highlight of the racing season at Saratoga Race Course. The crowd size varies, but in 2001 they set a record with 60,486 horse racing fans in attendance. Those fans were treated to a wonderful race that featured Point Given crossing the wire first.

The Travers Stakes is a great race to watch. You can always count on a great field of horses for the race. In 2006, a horse name Bernardini raced to victory in the Travers Stakes. Javier Castellano rode him. Bernardini wasn't known much before May of that year. May 20th everything changed. Bernardini dominated the field at the Preakness Stakes and won the race.

While the Travers Stakes isn't a prep race for the Triple Crown, you're likely to see horses that raced in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes take a un at the Travers Stakes.

The Travers Stakes is a 1 1/4th mile race on dirt. Since it's creation, it's been run at multiple distances, but it's been run at the current distance for just over 100 years. The Travers Stakes is run each year in August.