A bit of Travers history unfolded at the finish line at Saratoga when Sheikh Mohammed’s Alpha caught outsider Golden Ticket on the line with the camera unable to separate the pair.
After a few minutes the race was declared a dead-heat, the first time in the 143 runnings of the Group One Travers.
“I thought we were beat at first, then I thought we won,” said an ecstatic Ken McPeek, who trains 33-1 long-shot Golden Ticket.
“I couldn’t tell. I’m thrilled we finished in a dead heat.”
It appeared Golden Ticket would be alone in the winner’s circle as the field of 11 three-year-olds rounded the final turn and headed down the straight.
With David Cohen aboard, Golden Ticket moved inside and grabbed the advantage. But jockey Ramon Dominguez kept urging on 2-1 favourite Alpha, and the game colt, who is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, caught his rival in the final stride.
The crowd of 46,528 roared, while McLaughlin and McPeek smiled and high-fived each other in the grandstand when the result was official.
“It’s a dead heat but it goes in the ‘W’ column,” McLaughlin said.
“It doesn’t happen very often in a Grade One million dollar race, but we’re all happy it happened today.”
The 1874 Travers also ended in a dead heat, but Attila was declared the official winner after a runoff with Acrobat.
McPeek is familiar with pulling off upsets. In 2002, he won the Belmont Stakes with 70-1 shot Sarava, who spoiled War Emblem’s Triple Crown bid.
He decided on Tuesday to give Golden Ticket a chance in the Travers because several other options didn’t pan out.
He insisted Golden Ticket was training well, and would run a big race.
McLaughlin felt the same way about his colt, who matched his sire Bernardini by completing the Jim Dandy-Travers double.
The Travers may have been without the best of the three-year-old bunch, including retired Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another and Belmont winner Union Rags, but it turned into a race for the record books.
Travers tradition calls for a canoe sitting in a lake in the infield to be painted in the winning colours.
“I’m wondering who gets the canoe, how they’re going to paint it,” McLaughlin said.
