SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bob Baffert is back on the East Coast, convinced his 3-year-old colt Coil can beat the Preakness and Belmont Stakes winners again in the $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.
Last time the California-based trainer brought Coil cross-country, the striking chestnut won the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park by a neck over Preakness winner Shackleford, with Belmont winner Ruler On Ice third.
“I think he’s going to get better as he gets older,” Baffert said.
The lightly raced Coil will attempt to become the first horse to win the Haskell and Travers since his sire, Point Given, did it in 2001. Point Given also won the Preakness and the Belmont in `01 and went on to be voted Horse of the Year. Coil missed the Triple Crown races, and will be making his seventh career start in the 1 1/4-mile “Mid-Summer Derby.”
“Point Given had more of a foundation where this horse really doesn’t have the foundation,” Baffert said following Coil’s final prerace workout earlier in the week. “He’s doing things right now because of raw talent. He’s fast, he’s rateable and you can shut him off, which is good. So it’s not like
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