LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Leading Change entered Saturday’s Travers Stakes with two career starts and left Saratoga looking like a serious new player in the 3-year-old division.
The lightly raced colt trained by Brad Cox ran down Preakness winner Napoleon Solo in the final yards to win the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers by a half-length, while Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo rallied from far back to finish third.
Leading Change, a 10-1 shot ridden by Manny Franco, covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.98 and remained unbeaten in three career starts.
"We've always thought he was a big-time talent," Cox said. "I said coming into it that he's light on seasoning, but we were hoping he could make up for it with talent, and he was able to do it."
Leading Change did not make his racing debut until June 7 at Churchill Downs, where he won a seven-furlong maiden race. Five weeks later, he won the Grade 3 Indiana Derby in his first start around two turns.
Saturday, Cox asked him to take a considerably larger step.
He did.
Napoleon Solo took the field through moderate fractions of :23.66, :47.95 and 1:12.62 while Leading Change stayed within striking distance near the front. Golden Tempo, meanwhile, was ninth and roughly 16 lengths from the lead after a half-mile.
Golden Tempo began his customary rally on the turn and tried to advance along the rail in the stretch. But he briefly lost momentum in traffic while Leading Change swung outside and wore down Napoleon Solo in the final sixteenth.
Golden Tempo finished 1 3/4 lengths behind the top two, ending his bid to add the Travers to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.
"He was far back. It just didn't work out with the lack of pace," trainer Cherie DeVaux said. "He had too much to do. He came back fine and that's what is important."
Golden Tempo was making his first start since the June 6 Belmont after a mild illness interrupted his summer.
The result complicates, but hardly overturns, the picture atop the 3-year-old division. Golden Tempo won two Triple Crown races, while Leading Change suddenly has gone from an unraced colt in early June to a Grade 1 winner with victories in the Indiana Derby and Travers.
For Cox, who also won the 2021 Travers with Essential Quality, Leading Change's emergence gives him another major contender heading toward the fall.
The son of Gun Runner, bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm and purchased for $800,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, earned $687,500 Saturday and paid $22.76 to win.
Cox said Leading Change will return to Kentucky before his connections decide where he runs next.
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