NEWS
Spoilers Jerkens, Zito ready for Travers
Posted: Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:26 PM
by Phil Janack
Inducted in 1975, trainer Allen Jerkens earned his Hall of Fame credentials with the upsets of some of racing's biggest stars, like Secretariat, Kelso, Buckpasser, and Cicada.
Trainer Nick Zito, who followed Jerkens into the Hall of Fame 30 years later, has found similar success as a spoiler, particularly ruining the Triple Crown aspirations of Smarty Jones in 2004 and Big Brown this year.
For only the second time, the two will saddle horses against each other in the $1-million Travers Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Jerkens will send out Tizbig just six days after the three-year-old Tiznow colt finished second in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race.
"He's doing well and looking well and eating good," Jerkens said. "I'm hoping that he'll do something. Onion, when he beat Secretariat, only ran four days before. He set the track record on a Tuesday."
Nicknamed the "Giant Killer," Jerkens has never won the Travers in four tries. His best finish came in his first attempt, running second with Devil His Due in 1992.
You just hope for the best, and maybe it'll work," Jerkens said. "You've got to try."
Zito will have a quarter of the field for the 139th Travers, with Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Da' Tara, Fountain of Youth (G2) winner Cool Coal Man, and Amped.
A July allowance winner, Amped was another late Travers entrant. He ran third to Travers contender Mambo in Seattle in the $90,000 Henry Walton Stakes at Saratoga on July 27 in his previous start.
"I was going to run him in a stakes race the day before the Travers," Zito said. "When that race didn't go, I said, 'I've got to run the horse. The horse is ready to run.' He came out of the same race as Mambo in Seattle. We were close to him and people like Mambo in Seattle, so that's why I did it. Plus, I think he's a mile-and-a-quarter horse, and you don't get many chances for distance."
The inclusion of Tizbig could directly impact the Travers, matching Da' Tara's front-running style. Pressed every step of the way in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) before fading to last, Da' Tara stole the Belmont Stakes (G1) on the front end after being left alone on an easy lead.
Tizbig and Amped share the longest morning-line Travers odds at 30-to-1.
"I don't like it, but I respect him," Zito said. "If it was anybody else, I'd probably be cursing him.
"There's only one Giant Killer, to use that word. It's an honor to be mentioned in the same breath with him sometimes, doing some of the things we've done over the years, but he certainly stands alone in that regard. I don't ever question anything he does. Ever."
Phil Janack is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
