By Gene Kershner
The post position draw was held this morning at Saratoga Race Course for the 143rd running of the $1 million Travers Stakes and Alpha was instilled as the 5-2 morning line favorite. The field of 11 will be sent postward on Saturday afternoon as part of NBC's (Ch. 2, 4-6 p.m.) "Summer at Saratoga" series.
Nonios (4-1), who finished second behind Paynter in the Haskell Invitational last month, was made the second choice and Neck 'n Neck (9-2) is the third choice.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin was pleased with the draw of Post No. 6 for the Bernardini colt, but hopes his horse can avoid the issues he has dealt with in the past during the gate loading process. He will be one of the first horses loaded in the gate on Saturday afternoon based on his draw.
We will on site in Saratoga this weekend, be sure to look for print articles on Saturday and Sunday's editions on the big race.
The post position draw including, trainer, jockey and morning line odds for the Travers can be found below:
| PP | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
| 1 | Speightscity | Contessa | Ortiz Jr. | 30-1 |
| 2 | Five Sixteen | Schettino | Napravnik | 15-1 |
| 3 | Golden Ticket | McPeek | Cohen | 20-1 |
| 4 | Stealcase | Casse | Bridgmohan | 15-1 |
| 5 | Street Life | C Brown | Lezcano | 5-1 |
| 6 | Alpha | McLaughlin | Dominguez | 5-2 |
| 7 | Atigun | McPeek | ME Smith | 12-1 |
| 8 | Neck 'n Neck | Wilkes | Goncalves | 9-2 |
| 9 | Liaison | Baffert | Bejarano | 8-1 |
| 10 | Nonios | Hollendorfer | Velazquez | 4-1 |
| 11 | Fast Falcon | Zito | J Alvarado | 20-1 |
Gene Kershner is a Buffalo-based turf writer and handicapper who blogs at equispace.blogspot.com and tweets @EquiSpace.
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Horse Racing