This whole space could be taken up with Saratoga races on a great Travers card. Second choice Measured Time should have his way with morning-line favorite Silver Knott in the Sword Dancer. In the Ballerina Handicap, Scylla ought to get more than two pounds from Vahva but still holds appeal turning back from routes. The Allen Jerkens? Eight of them (including 30-1 sleeper Reynolds Channel) merit consideration. Travers A fascinating race. I have a hard time ruling out with conviction anyone except Corporate Power. Honor Marie looks best among the longer prices, but even with favorable race flow it’s hard to envision him beating all of the Big 4 – Thorpedo Anna, Sierra Leone, Dornoch, and Fierceness. Zero knocks on Thorpedo Anna. It’s fair acknowledging this fabulous filly never has faced a single horse as fast as several, if not everyone, in the Travers. The recent wins have come so easily, Thorpedo Anna might have more to give. Still, the rail offers nothing but unappealing options, and any “reputation” filly facing males in a major race likely goes underlaid. :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day. Dornoch – division leader, utterly admirable. Three times he has battled back to win after being passed in the homestretch. How can one say that’s anything other than a fast colt with a big heart? And yet, I still believe Sierra Leone lost the Remsen as much as Dornoch won. And I contend Mindframe loathes the whip; that his aversion to it might have cost him the Belmont and the Haskell. All evidence says Dornoch must go forward to show his best. He has speed drawn inside and outside him. I am not counting him out. The setup also looks tricky for Fierceness, recipient of a dream trip winning the Jim Dandy over a nine-furlong distance that – time will tell – might better suit him than 10. Fierceness, from workout video, continues training with aplomb and appears to have held his weight out of the Jim Dandy, a key factor for a horse who wilted coming into the Derby. Is Sierra Leone a hanger? The case might be made, but not by me. This colt is too good not to win one of the top 3-year-old races. Saturday is his day. Sierra Leone’s entire early-season campaign revolved around winning one race – the Derby. I thought he would, still can’t really believe he didn’t. Sure, he had five weeks to the Belmont, but I look at that race, where Sierra Leone did stumble at the start, as coming on the downslope of a peak. The colt has been built back up to another one for the Travers, the Jim Dandy loss merely a means to this end. I didn’t love Sierra Leone’s work on Aug. 11; the Aug. 17 gallop-out was incredible. This race, at his distance, shapes in Sierra Leone’s favor. Now or never. Forego Cagliostro always has possessed talent. It’s only this season, with maturity and the addition of blinkers, that it’s begun to fully manifest, and I expect the colt to run the race of his life Saturday now that connections have settled on longer one-turn races as his best lick. Cagliostro is one of those horses who can handle two turns but doesn’t excel at it – a miler at heart, one with enough zip for seven furlongs. A slow pace in his cutback to a one-turn mile on June 30 landed Cagliostro much closer to the pace than he’ll be here. That’s a good thing. A sustained run into a swift pace feels like an ideal circumstance for Cagliostro to show his best. Pat O’Brien I love that trainer Todd Fincher suggests Senor Buscador might need his first start since the Dubai World Cup. In trainer speak, that often means big things are expected. I expect them. :: DRF's Del Mar Handicapping Packages: Get everything you need to play the races with confidence. Again, as has been said before in this space, Senor Buscador has run some good ones around two turns – the San Diego, the Pegasus World Cup, even in Dubai – but he’s best as a one-run closer in one-turn races. The Saudi Cup, keep in mind, is a one-turn nine-furlong contest. Senor Buscador’s last two works show up on video. I like both. Red Pill, who he worked with Aug. 11, is a very fast horse. Buscador hit the wire and galloped out full of run in the Aug. 16 solo drill. The Chosen Vron comes to this in roaring form, has enough class and sense to rate just behind Raging Torrent. I still think Senor Buscador can run him down. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.