Jerkens recovering from Afleet Express' Travers victory

The official Travers photo finish, with Afleet Express on the inside (Courtesy of NYRA) Saturday's Travers S. (G1) at Saratoga appears to have taken more out of trainer Jimmy Jerkens than his colt AFLEET EXPRESS (Afleet Alex), who prevailed by a nose in the "Midsummer Derby." "I was tired," Jerkens said. "I was knocked out. I slept pretty good." Jerkens said Afleet Express exited the race in good shape, but he and the colt's owners, Gainesway Stable and Martin L. Cherry, have yet to discuss where the three-year-old might make his next start. "They didn't feel like talking about it yet, either," Jerkens stated. Jerkens had high expectations for Afleet Express going into the race, but that didn't take any of the awe away from the horseman's first Travers victory.

"I was hoping I wouldn't wake up and learn it was all a dream," he

admitted.

"It was a big thrill for all us, the whole crew. It's very satisfying. That's

why we work seven days a week, 365 days a year: so that once in a while

something like that will happen."

Perhaps the only person as excited as trainer Jimmy Jerkens about Afleet

Express's Travers victory was his Hall of Fame father, 80-year-old Allen Jerkens, who

said it was the next-best-thing to winning it himself.

"I watched it at home, and I saw him at the restaurant later on,"

the elder Jerkens said. "It was a close finish, but I thought he had it. Like they say, it

was a good horse, well-trained and well-ridden."

Allen Jerkens, for whom the leading trainer award has been named at

Saratoga Race Course, has saddled five starters in the Travers, with

his best showing a second-place finish in the 1992 edition with Devil His Due.

Afleet Express denied yet another Hall of Fame trainer from taking home the

victory when Nick Zito's FLY DOWN (Mineshaft) came within a nostril of winning.

That left Zito with just one victory and five seconds in 23 Travers tries. Zito had run second previously with Louis Quatorze (1996), Albert the Great

(2000), The Cliff's Edge (2004) and Bellamy Road (2005), with Albert the Great's

loss coming by a head. Birdstone, in 2004, gave Zito his lone Travers victory.

"I don't know what to say," Zito said. "It's frustrating, but we've got to be

grateful to be in these races, that's for sure. I've got to be grateful that way

and think about that, but on the other hand, getting beat all these races is

tough. Fly Down obviously ran a winning race. A nose here or there, that's all.

It's just a tough break, that's all I can say. We do the best we can, right or

wrong."

Fly Down had run fifth in the Jim Dandy S. (G2), beaten 4 1/2 lengths after being forced to check late. Prior to that, he was second in the

Belmont S. (G1) and won the Dwyer S. (G2) by sixth lengths.

"I watched the replay in the grandstand with a lot of fans, and that replay

shows he won," Zito said. "In the clubhouse, it looked like it could have gone

either way, but it didn't look as good as it did in the grandstand. It's weird.

"Mr. Pell said to me, 'I don't think we got it, Nick.' I thought like maybe

he did, because he's so long. It was a really tough race."

Looking ahead, Zito is eyeing the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at

Churchill Downs on November 6 for Fly Down, possibly using the $750,000

Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) on October 2 at Belmont to get there.

"The goal would be to somehow try to get him to the Breeders' Cup Classic,"

he said. "I don't know what races we'll pick yet. We'll just wait it out.

Hopefully he's OK and if that's the case, then we'll see. The Gold Cup is

something to think about. He likes Belmont, so we'll see what happens."

Zito said MINER'S RESERVE (Mineshaft), who set the Travers

pace from the gate to the eighth-pole before tiring to finish seventh off 11,

emerged from the race with soreness in his right front foot.

"I'm a little worried about his foot," Zito said. "We X-rayed him and it was

OK. Hopefully, he's going to be all right, but it looks like he has a really

severe bruised foot. Let's hope that's it. Thank God the X-rays are good. We

noticed it when he came back to the barn. He walked back fine, and maybe a

half-hour after, he started favoring it. He was in front all the way and I don't

know if that made him stop or the mile and a quarter made him stop."

Meanwhile, Zito remains mystified with ICE BOX (Pulpit), who finished eighth.

After taking the Florida Derby (G1) and closing to be second following a

rough trip in the Kentucky Derby (G1), the chestnut colt was ninth in the Belmont and

sixth in the Haskell Invitational (G1) before the Travers, beaten nearly 30 lengths

combined.

"Ice Box came back good. I don't know what it is," Zito said. "We scoped him

and didn't find any displacement or anything. I don't know what it is, to be

honest with you. I'm a little disappointed in him. He was far back, but so was

Fly Down. It wasn't a closing track (Saturday), but definitely disappointing.

Maybe we'll take some precautions and check him out real good and see what the

story is. He certainly didn't duplicate his Florida Derby or Kentucky Derby."

Trainer Todd Pletcher remained puzzled and disappointed with Kentucky Derby

winner SUPER SAVER's (Maria's Mon) 10th-place run in the Travers on

Sunday morning.

"We're going to do some diagnostics, either here or at a clinic," Pletcher

said. "Obviously that was not up to standards. Maybe there is something going on

that we can't see. He seems OK this morning, nothing dramatically wrong, but

maybe there is something underneath that we are not seeing."

Dale Romans, on the other hand, found himself telling the same story about

FIRST DUDE (Stephen Got Even), who ran virtually identical races in the Travers (third),

Haskell (third), Belmont (third), Preakness S. (G1) (second) and Blue Grass S.

(G1) (third). First Dude battled for the lead, was passed in the

lane by winner Afleet Express and runner-up Fly Down and held gamely for show.

The colt has now run in six straight Grade 1 races and hit the board in five of

them without winning.

Even the addition of half blinkers at the suggestion of jockey Ramon

Dominguez couldn't break First Dude's role as bridesmaid to the top three-year-olds.

"I've already said this six times this morning, it's the same race over and

over again," Romans said. "They should have an Eclipse Award for most consistent

horse."

"At the quarter pole, he looks like he's going to be sixth or seventh,"

Romans added.

Romans said First Dude would head back to Kentucky and future plans would be

picked out, adding that the colt would not be dropped in class but maybe

another change of some kind is in order.

"Distance, maybe even a different surface," he said. "He's out of a Smart

Strike mare, so maybe turf. We just have to discuss it. He will stay in top

company."

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin was making no excuses for TRAPPE SHOT (Tapit) the

morning after his ninth-place finish as the 7-2 favorite in the Travers.

"He got knocked a little coming out of the gate, but he had a good trip and

was able to save ground," McLaughlin said. "He just didn't fire."

McLaughlin said Trappe Shot horse exited the race in good shape, but hasn't

thought about where the Mill House colorbearer will race next.

"We'll regroup now and he'll tell us where he'll go next," he said.

On a picture-perfect day that saw a thrilling finish

to the 141st running of the $1 million Travers, on-track attendance and handle

continued an upward trend.

A crowd of 45,764 witnessed Afleet Express defeat Fly Down by a nose, an increase of 33.7 percent over last year's attendance of

34,221 on hand for Summer Bird's dominant victory.

On-track handle for Saratoga's races was $8,218,975, an increase of 19.9

percent over last year's total of $6,853,155. Total all sources handle was $33,890,996, up 11.3 percent last year's

$30,449,575.