Scully: Pick 3 play on Travers undercard

The post draw for Saturday’s $1.25 million Travers (G1) at Saratoga came up challenging. Thorpedo Anna looks poised to show speed from her rail post, and I expect a career-best performance if she negotiates the 1 1/4-mile distance effectively. 

However, Dornoch, Fierceness, and Sierra Leone are all in with a legitimate chance. The top four contenders are difficult to separate.

The Travers promises to be exciting, but other races have more appeal from a betting standpoint.

One of four Grade 1 events on the undercard, the Forego (G1) has a horse I’m interested in: #8 Cagliostro (9-2). 

After winning only one of seven starts last season, Cagliostro has improved at age four. He returned from a seven-month vacation with a game neck score in a deep Keeneland allowance and threatened to win the 1 1/8-mile Blame S. next out, finishing a clear second to Highland Falls after surrendering the lead in deep stretch.

Cagliostro impressed while cutting back to a one-turn mile in the June 30 Hanshin S. at Churchill Downs, comfortably defeating seven graded-stakes winners, and he appears to have found his niche at the middle distances. The bay colt has displayed improved speed this year and It’s easy to appreciate his progress for Cherie DeVaux. I will look for another strong showing from the up-close stalker.

The Forego goes off as race 11, and I will single Cagliostro in a Pick 3 wager that begins one race earlier in the Ballerina H. (G1).

#3 Vahva (1-1) may prove too good for her Ballerina rivals, registering outstanding Brisnet Speed ratings while winning the Derby City Distaff (G1) and Chicago (G3) in her last two starts, but the four-old filly is winless from two previous attempts at Saratoga. 

I will also use the projected speed, #4 Society (4-1), who is eligible to break better than she did in her first start of 2024, the Chicago. She’s run some big races at the distance when controlling the pace.

Three-year-olds sprinters will contest race 12, the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1), and I like #6 Timberlake (5-1) cutting back to seven furlongs. Third in the Haskell (G1) last out, the Brad Cox-trained colt has raced exclusively at two-turn distances this season, but he showed an affinity for less ground when romping in the Champagne (G1) over a one-turn mile last October. 

I will also include #5 Prince of Monaco (4-1), who appears to be training forwardly for his second start back this year. The juvenile Grade 1 scorer closed boldly to be a half-length second after breaking slowly in the June 8 Woody Stephens (G1). 

• $10 Pick 3 part-wheel (Races 10-12): 3,4 with 8 with 5,6 ($40)