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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The pills rattled in the jar announcing that the post-position draw for the Travers Stakes was under way. On the edge of the paddock, the trainer Gary Contessatried to explain why he had entered a horse named Speightscity that looked as if he had no chance to win the 143rd running of the Midsummer Derby on Saturday.
“Sometimes you just have to take a shot,” Contessa, who wears lightly tinted glasses, said, reaching for a history of the race and slapping the back of his hand against Page 48.
“Right there,” he said, flashing white teeth. “There’s the reason.”
In print small enough that you had to squint was the name Willow Hour next to the year 1981. It was the one and only time that Contessa had ever walked a horse over to Saratoga Race Course’s marquee race. He was an assistant to Jimmy Picou then, a youngster of 24, short on horsemanship but long on hair.
“It was down to my shoulders,” said Contessa, whose salt-and-pepper hair can now pass the ear-and-collar test.
On the end of his shank then was a colt who had already run 15 races as a 3-year-old, winning four, but had never had a victory in a stakes race.
In the minutes before that 1981 race, one of the deepest fields — by some accounts — in the history of the Travers was circling around this very paddock.
The favorite was Pleasant Colony, who had captured the Kentucky Derby and Preaknessbefore being upset in the Belmont Stakes. The horse that denied him the Triple Crown, Summing, was here, too. So was Lord Avie, the 2-year-old champion from 1980. Noble Nashua had recently won the Grade I Swaps at Hollywood Park, and Five Star Flight the Haskell Invitational. No wonder Willow Hour was given no chance and sent off at 25-1.
Now flip to Page 44 of the Travers book, and in much bigger print is the second largest payoff in the race’s history: $50.20 for a $2 bet. Guess who?
Willow Hour dueled gamely the length of the stretch with Pleasant Colony and held off a late charge by Lord Avie to win by a diminishing head.
Last time Contessa was here, with Willow Hour, the Travers Stakes offered a purse of $135,600. On Saturday, $1 million will be up for grabs.
Now, Contessa is not looking for lightning to strike twice, nor is he some quixotic horseman on a fool’s quest. He was the leading trainer on the New York circuit from 2006 to 2009 and is fifth in the standings here.
And no one is going to mistake Saturday’s field of 11 for the cast of the 1981 Travers.
The stars of the Triple Crown season, I’ll Have Another and Union Rags, are retired.
Last year’s 2-year-old champion, Hansen, was declared out of the race Wednesday morning and is likely to follow those two into retirement with a tendon injury.
So the lukewarm morning line favorite at 5-2 is Alpha, who finished 12th in the Derby and has yet to capture a Grade I race. The second choice, Nonios, finished second at this year’s Haskell and has only one stakes victory.
When the owners of Speightscity, Bruce and Linda McConnell, suggested the Travers for their horse, Contessa made only a halfhearted effort to dissuade them.
“I quickly went through all the usual trainer disclaimers — ‘He lacks seasoning,’ ‘We need a race’ — but I didn’t try too hard,” Contessa said.
Just then, almost on cue, Speightscity — who drew post position No. 1 — entered the paddock with his groom for some scheduled schooling. The chestnut was on his toes, and his muscles were gleaming.
Speightscity is a lightly raced horse who finished second in the Withers Stakes in February, at odds of 44-1. He has not run since, but he has a couple of stout mile workouts here for his run on Saturday. He is 30-1 in the morning line, but Contessa does not seem to mind.
“Sometimes you got a take a shot,” he said. “This is the kind of race you might get lucky.”
It’s why they run them.