Travers Stakes 2024 predictions, odds, horses, time, entries, post positions: Expert picks by racing insider

Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna will try to become the first filly in more than a century to win the Travers Stakes when she leaves the starting gate in the 2024 Travers Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. The last filly to win the race known as the Midsummer Derby was Lady Rotha in 1915. Since then, just four fillies have even run in the Travers, the best finish being third in 1974. This year, Thorpedo Anna enters the Travers on a four-race winning streak. She is second in the 2024 Travers Stakes odds at 3-1, behind only Belmont and Haskell Stakes winner Dornoch, who is the 5-2 favorite among the eight 2024 Travers Stakes horses.

Florida Derby winner Fierceness (3-1), Blue Grass Stakes champ Sierra Leone (7-2) and the undefeated Unmatched Wisdom (8-1) round out the top five 2024 Travers Stakes horses on the odds board. Post time for the $1.3 million race is 6:10 p.m. ET. With several accomplished horses set to enter the starting gate on Saturday, you'll want to see what Santa Anita Park-based racing reporter and analyst Michelle Yu has to say before making any 2024 Travers Stakes picks .

Few people in racing are as well-connected as Yu. An on-air host and reporter who has provided racing analysis for TVG, HRTV and the Breeders' Cup, Yu has spent a lifetime in racing. Prior to her television career, she worked for trainers Steve Asmussen and Ron Moquett. She also is married to Santa Anita-based trainer Ryan Hanson.

Yu also has tremendous handicapping chops. In a wide-open Kentucky Derby in 2021, she gave out Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first, as the winner at 12-1. In Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager two years ago, she suggested a play on All Other 3-Year-Olds, which cashed at a whopping 18-1 when Rich Strike won the Derby.

She enters the Travers Stakes on a roll. She correctly called National Treasure to win the Pegasus World Cup, predicted Stronghold's upset win in the Santa Anita Derby, en route to a $219.50 payday, and smashed the exacta in the Apple Blossom Handicap as part of a $410 score. On the Belmont Stakes undercard, she nailed National Treasure's win in the Met Mile ($235) and had both the winner and exacta in the Woody Stephens Stakes. Anyone who has followed her is way up.

For the 2024 Travers Stakes, Yu has handicapped the field, made her picks and constructed her best bets. You can head to SportsLine now to see them .

Top 2024 Travers Stakes predictions

One surprise: Yu is completely fading Fierceness, even though he's one of the favorites at 3-1. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Fierceness has four wins and one third in seven career starts. He is coming off a one-length win in the Jim Dandy Stakes, the local prep for the Travers.

But in that race, Fierceness got a perfect trip stalking a cheap-speed horse. Saturday's Travers does not figure to set up the same way with multiple speed horses in the race. "I am just not sure he is going to be able to dictate the race this time," Yu told SportsLine. She is not using Fierceness in any of her wagers. You can see all of Yu's 2024 Travers Stakes bets here .

How to make 2024 Travers Stakes picks

Moreover, Yu's top pick is a horse who has still has plenty of naysayers, but Yu isn't deterred. She is including this horse in her 2024 Travers bets, and so should you. She's sharing which 2024 Travers Stakes horses to back only at SportsLine .

So who wins the 2024 Travers Stakes, and how has Yu constructed her wagers? Visit SportsLine to see Yu's picks for the Travers Stakes 2024, all from the Santa Anita-based racing insider who has been red-hot all year , and find out.

2024 Travers Stakes odds, contenders