by Phil Janack

Stakes winner Mambo in Seattle is on target for the $1-million Travers Stakes Presented by Shadwell Farm (G1), the premier race of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Neil Howard, Mambo in Seattle breezed six furlongs on the main track Sunday under jockey Robby Albarado in 1:13.03, the fastest of six timed moves at the distance.

"Robby and I talked about it," Howard said. "We just wanted a nice work, nothing earth-shattering, but smart. He did it real nice and he finished up in 11 [seconds] and change for the last eighth. You wouldn't have asked for him to go much better than he did."

A three-year-old Kingmambo colt, Mambo in Seattle has won three of five starts this year with one runner-up finish. He enters the 1 1/4-mile Travers on a three-race winning streak.

"Whenever you're talking a race of that magnitude, you never take it lightly," Howard said of the 139th edition of Travers on August 23. "That's what we're pointing to right now. If he keeps going the way he is right now, that's the plan."

Mambo in Seattle tuned up for the Travers with a win at Saratoga in the $91,750 Henry Walton Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-olds on the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) undercard on July 27. The Jim Dandy is Saratoga's traditional local prep for the Travers.

"He's fit and he's just come off a good race," Howard said. "He's a very straightforward horse. He usually goes right about his business."

Howard used a similar pattern last year to bring Grasshopper into the Travers, in which he nearly upset Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Street Sense.

Howard said Grasshopper will not likely be pointed to the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on August 30, which will mark the return to dirt for 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.

"We think the world of Grasshopper, don't get me wrong," he said. "We ran against Curlin in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) and ran well, but we have the respect in the world for him. Right now, I'd say we're on the fence. I would say it's kind of doubtful, but things can change in this business."

Phil Janack is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent