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Originally Posted by tector
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As an aside, I don't know where this NYRA propaganda about the Travers being a "must" comes from. Secretariat didn't run in the Travers--he went to the Whitney. His stablemate, Riva Ridge, blew it off as well. I'm sure if looked I could find plenty more examples. .
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Secretariat was using the Whitney as his prep for the Travers; it was run 4 days before the relatively minor Jim Dandy that year (4 August vs. 8 August). The Travers was run on 18 August so the plan would have given him two full weeks between races instead of 10 days. But he lost the Whitney and his connections decided he needed some time off before the fall campaign, leaving the Travers to be won by the immortal Annihilate 'Em.
I'm not sure that Riva Ridge ran at all in the late summer/early fall.
The Travers was a classic race long before the Preakness was. Now that the NYRA has emasculated its races for older horses (Woodward down to 9f, the Saratoga BC Cup eliminated, JCGC cut 6f, heck the Whitney even used to be 10f), the Travers is one of the few G1 races left for real racehorses.