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Leading Change wins the Travers in his third start

     

Turfling
America · Sunday 30 August 2026

The lead

Leading Change wins the Travers in his third start

Leading Change tracked the pace, came outside approaching the stretch and wore down Napoleon Solo to win the 157th Travers at Saratoga on Saturday evening, a mile and a quarter in 2:02.98 for a purse of 1.25 million dollars (Horse Racing Sense). Manny Franco rode the Gun Runner colt for Brad Cox (The Daily Gazette, DK Network). The margin was half a length over Napoleon Solo, who won the Preakness, with the dual classic winner Golden Tempo third, about a length and three quarters further back (The Daily Gazette). It was the winner’s third career start. He broke his maiden at Churchill Downs on 7 June and won the Grade 3 Indiana Derby narrowly on 11 July (The Daily Gazette). Cox said afterwards that they were substituting talent over seasoning, and that it is very hard for a horse to come into the Midsummer Derby with only two starts behind him (The Daily Gazette). A field that held a Preakness winner, a dual classic winner and a Haskell winner was beaten by the one horse in it with almost no past.

Things to know today

1 Manny Franco said he got the trip they expected, that he put the colt on the outside turning for home and that he levelled out and was digging in (The Daily Gazette)
2 Renegade, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, finished eighth of the ten (The Daily Gazette)
3 Golden Tempo ran third on his first start since a bacterial lung infection was diagnosed in late June, Jose Ortiz riding for Cherie DeVaux (Horse Racing Sense, Horse Racing Nation)
4 Hymn took the Grade 1 Forego under Ricardo Santana Jr. for Ron Moquett, with Senior Officer and T Kraft dead-heating for second, three quarters of a length back (The Daily Gazette, Thoroughbred Daily News)
5 Book’em Danno was scratched from the Forego overnight with a minor leg injury. The 2025 champion male sprinter had won five of his six starts at Saratoga, including last year’s Forego and two runnings of the Grade 2 True North (The Daily Gazette). Banishing was scratched from the same race (Thoroughbred Daily News)
6 Moquett said the first thing he wanted was to be sure the horse is all right, because those are the kind of horses everyone loves (The Daily Gazette)
7 Ways and Means won the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga (BloodHorse)
8 Naomis took the Lake Placid in her first start in the United States, a mile on the inner turf worth 400,000 dollars for three-year-old fillies (BloodHorse, Horse Racing Nation)
9 Englishman won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial earlier on the card, seven furlongs in 1:20.71, Jose Ortiz riding for Cherie DeVaux, from Deep Flame and Local Knowledge (Horse Racing Nation)
10 Fully Subscribed won the Grade 1 Personal Ensign in 1:49.23, Flavien Prat riding for Chad Brown, with Scottish Lassie second and Nerazurri third (Horse Racing Nation)
11 Pool one of the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic future wager closes at 6pm Eastern today, having opened at noon Eastern on Friday, with up to twenty three individual interests and an All Others option (Thoroughbred Daily News)
12 Kentucky Downs races again today, the second of seven days, on a meet carrying twenty stakes worth 25.75 million dollars (Paulick Report)
13 Maiden special weight races at Kentucky Downs are worth 170,000 dollars, and the track’s vice president of racing said its purse structure remains the highest in the nation (Paulick Report)
14 In Our Time took the Grade 1 Never Say Die Kentucky Downs Ladies’ Turf Sprint on Saturday, six and a half furlongs in 1:16.01 for a purse of 1,676,500 dollars, Micah Husbands riding for Saffie Joseph Jr., with Time to Dazzle second and Jody’s Pride third. It was a first Grade 1 for the five-year-old mare (Thoroughbred Daily News)
15 Test Score won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Saturday by a short neck from Atitlan, with Atomic Age third, a mile and three eighths on firm turf in 2:14.76, Juan Hernandez riding for Graham Motion, and earned a place in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Thoroughbred Daily News)

International

Australasia

Beiwacht wins the Memsie and looks abroad

Beiwacht won the Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield by three lengths, Nash Rawiller riding for Chris Waller and Godolphin, with Mr Brightside second and Cosmic Crusader a short neck away third (Just Racing, Racing Post). The four-year-old had been scratched from the Winx Stakes the previous week after a raised temperature, and Waller said they did not panic, that it was enough to indicate the horse did not need to leave the stable (Just Racing). Waller called him a specialist over 1400 metres and said there could be international goals, naming the Prix de la Foret on 4 October, the Mile Championship at Tokyo in November and the Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin in December, with the Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama and the Hong Kong Sprint options if he drops to six furlongs (Racing Post). Key runners only. We do not reproduce Australian field content.

Markets overnight

· Dow 53,559.99, down 0.02% (TheStreet)
· S&P 500 7,711.71, down 0.25% (TheStreet)
· Nasdaq Composite 26,402.42, down 0.52% (TheStreet)
· 10-year Treasury yield 4.728%, up 5.6 basis points (Investrade market review)
· US Dollar Index 99.65, up 0.5% (Investrade market review)
· Gold, December futures, 4,529.90 dollars, down 2.88% (Investrade market review, Barchart)
· WTI crude 83.40 dollars, down 0.16% (Investrade market review)
· Bitcoin 77,838 dollars, down 3.01% (Rio Times Online)
As of the Friday 28 August close, which remains the most recent. Every figure is linked to the page it was read from. Gold is the December futures contract and the figure was read at two sources that agree. Nothing here is estimated, rounded from memory or carried forward.

The week ahead

Sun 30 Pool one of the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic future wager closes at 6pm Eastern (Thoroughbred Daily News)
Sun 30 Kentucky Downs races, the second of the meeting’s seven days (Paulick Report)
Thu 3 Sep Kentucky Downs returns after a three-day break (Paulick Report)
Sat 5 Sep The Nashville Derby Invitational, a Grade 2 worth three million dollars for three-year-olds, and the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational, a Grade 2 worth two million (Paulick Report)
Mon 7 Sep The Mint Millions Invitational at Kentucky Downs, a Grade 3 worth two million dollars (Paulick Report)
Wed 9 Sep The Dueling Grounds Oaks Invitational, a Grade 3 worth two million dollars for three-year-old fillies, closes the Kentucky Downs meet (Paulick Report)
Fri 25 Sep Pool two of the Breeders’ Cup Classic future wager opens at noon Eastern and closes at 6pm Eastern on 27 September (Thoroughbred Daily News)

This week

Who wins the Travers?

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Reported from official race-day materials, racecourse and regulator publications, and sales results, verified against trade press. Where a fact originates elsewhere, we say so. Market data as of the most recent US close, sourced separately from racing content and linked at each figure. Drafted with AI assistance. Picks are percentages, never odds. Not affiliated with any track, tote board, regulator or wagering product.

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