Horse of the Year honors could be on the line Saturday when Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch, Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna and six others square off in the 2024 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Entering Saturday, Thorpedo Anna is ranked No. 1 in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll, while Dornoch is No. 3. A win by either on Saturday would go a long way towards winning the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.
Dornoch is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the 2024 Travers Stakes odds, while Thorpedo Anna is 3-1 along with Florida Derby winner Fierceness. Blue Grass Stakes winner Sierra Leone (7-2) and the undefeated Unmatched Wisdom (8-1) round out the top five choices on the odds board among the eight 2024 Travers Stakes horses. 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 SportsLine writer Gene Menez has to say before making any Travers Stakes picks or horse racing predictions .
A former reporter and editor at Sports Illustrated, Menez covered an array of sports, including horse racing, for the magazine and its website for almost 14 years. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as SI's handicapper for the Triple Crown races and correctly predicted Super Saver to win the Kentucky Derby in 2010.
In 2015, while writing for Sports on Earth, Menez accurately gave out the Kentucky Derby superfecta (American Pharoah, Firing Line, Dortmund and Frosted), which paid $1,268.20 for $2. Then in 2017, he tweeted out his Kentucky Derby picks, including Always Dreaming to win. He also hit the Pick 4, which paid almost $6,900 on a $1 bet.
In a span of seven races last year for SportsLine, he cashed the winner of the Lecomte Stakes, the exacta in the Southwest Stakes, the winner of the Holy Bull Stakes, the winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes, and the trifecta in the Jenny Wiley Stakes. He also nailed National Treasure's win in the Preakness. In May, he gave out 18-1 Mystik Dan as a live longshot in the Kentucky Derby. In June, he nailed Trikari to win the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes.
One surprise: Menez is high on Corporate Power, even though he is a 15-1 longshot. Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Corporate Power has two wins and two seconds in five career starts. He is coming off a runner-up finish to Unmatched Wisdom in the Curlin Stakes on July 19.
Menez likes that the expected pace scenario shapes up well for Corporate Power's running style. "Corporate Power is an off-the-pace horse who should benefit if the pace heats up as expected," Menez told SportsLine. Menez is using Corporate Power prominently in his exotic wagers. You can see all of Menez's 2024 Travers Stakes bets here .
How to make 2024 Travers Stakes picks
Moreover, Menez's top pick is a horse who will "come roaring down the lane late." He also is high on another double-digit longshot who is "interesting at a big price." He is including these horses in his wagers, and so should you. He's sharing what horses to back at SportsLine .
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