2014 Travers Stakes

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens had the best horse in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (gr. I)—but it wasn't the one everyone was betting on.

V. E. Day upset stablemate and Jim Dandy (gr. II) winner Wicked Strong by a nose in the 1 1/4-mile 'Midsummer Derby' Aug. 23 at Saratoga Race Course, charging late to surge ahead in the nick of time for his biggest career victory at odds of 19-1.

"I wasn't absolutely sure it was V. E. Day because he had so much mud on him, until they got a little closer and I saw the silks and then I knew it was him," Jerkens remarked. "I said, 'Man, what a feeling. I know I'm going to win the Travers; I just don't know with who.'"

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