Travers Marquee Is Looking Less Bright

Trainer Bobby Frankel second-guessed himself about running Empire Maker in the Kentucky Derby after the colt’s 11th-hour training had been compromised by a bruised foot. As the favorite, Empire Maker ran second to Funny Cide at Churchill Downs, and Frankel said later that he probably should have withheld his horse.

Another $1-million race -- the fourth for Empire Maker this year -- looms Saturday at Saratoga, and Frankel probably won’t repeat his mistake with Khalid Abdullah’s talented colt.

“I want to play it on the safe side,” Frankel said Thursday, after declaring that Empire Maker is now a doubtful starter in the Travers. Not for nothing did Frankel drop the name of another of his horses, Peace Rules, in the entry box Wednesday; it may be Peace Rules who represents the country’s leading trainer in the biggest race for 3-year-olds outside the Triple Crown.

This is the 134th Travers, and none that went before had been besieged by as much pre-race uncertainty about marquee horses. First it was Funny Cide, the Derby and Preakness winner, spiking a fever and becoming questionable for the race. Funny Cide was also entered Wednesday, but his gloomy-Gus trainer, Barclay Tagg, said he won’t decide whether to run the New York-bred gelding until Saturday morning, several hours before the race.

Frankel checked on Empire Maker at the barn Wednesday night and found that his horse hadn’t finished his feed. Empire Maker has also had an occasional cough. On three recent days, Frankel didn’t send Empire Maker to the track during training hours, and Thursday all the colt did was walk around the shedrow.

“He’s not sick-sick,” Frankel said, “but there is something not right there, and if I do something stupid, like training him, he might get sick.”

Blood tests this week have shown that Funny Cide, third in the Haskell in his last start, has a white-cell count that has been slightly high.

“I don’t like it that way, especially going into a race like this,” Tagg said.

At 1 1/4 miles, the Travers is supposed to be round four in the Funny Cide-Empire Maker rivalry. Empire Maker beat Funny Cide in the Wood Memorial; Funny Cide reversed that outcome in the Derby; then Funny Cide ran third in the Belmont as Empire Maker deprived him of a Triple Crown sweep.

Frankel said that if Empire Maker doesn’t run in the Travers, he’d probably be introduced to older horses in the Woodward at Belmont Park on Sept. 6.

Peace Rules’ best game is at shorter distances than the Travers. Owner Ed Gann’s colt has won the Louisiana Derby, the Blue Grass and the Haskell, but he was third in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness.

The other five Travers probables include Sky Mesa, second to Peace Rules in the Haskell; Strong Hope, who’s on a five-race win streak after beating Empire Maker in the Jim Dandy; Ten Most Wanted, second in the Belmont; and longshots Congrats and Wild And Wicked.