By Paul Moran
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Big Brown is off on his own, bound for a grass race in New Jersey that is meaningful to the big picture in no discernable sense, a turf prep in September for the Breeders' Cup Classic, according to his owners, but to most others an evasive maneuver that avoids Curlin at all costs.
While Big Brown prepares to play on the Monmouth Park lawn, most others prominent in the 3-year-old division are assembled here for Saturday's 139th Travers Stakes, which offers a $1 million purse and the most prestigious title available to horses this age beyond the Triple Crown series.
The race known as the "Midsummer Derby" has in each of the last three years gone to the winner of the Jim Dandy Stakes, which bodes well for Macho Again, who last month won a hard-fought battle that put him at the wire a half-length in front of Pyro at the end of a strongly run 9 furlongs.
This year's Travers is significant even without Big Brown....
