In 1864, New York businessman William R. Travers joined John Morrissey, Leonard Jerome, and different outstanding males in constructing Saratoga Race Course, the historic racetrack now dwelling to lots of the sport’s largest stakes annually. Included on this record of valued stakes is Travers’s namesake race, a characteristic for 3-year-olds nicknamed the “Mid-Summer season Derby.” The person himself, who additionally co-owned a outstanding secure over the past half of the 19th Century, even celebrated the primary version of his namesake race by successful it along with his legendary colt Kentucky, son of Lexington.
Greater than 150 years later, the Travers Stakes nonetheless stands as a primary goal for the very best that the 3-year-old division has to supply. Alongside the status of a win on this historic race comes the possibility to carry a trophy that’s nearly as well-known because the Travers itself.
It Begins with An Immortal
By 1920, the Travers Stakes had develop into one of many signature races of Saratoga’s late summer season season and a vacation spot for the yr’s finest 3-year-olds. The record of victors boasted names like Ruthless, the winner of the inaugural Belmont Stakes; and Kentucky Derby winners Baden Baden, Hindoo, Azra, and Omar Khayyam. Among the many highlights of its early years have been the 1918 version, which featured the winners of all three of the Triple Crown races, years earlier than the three have been known as such. Man o’ Warfare’s presence within the 1920 Travers was a given contemplating proprietor Samuel Riddle’s fondness for the racetrack and its prestigious fame.
When Man o’ Warfare rolled throughout the end line at Saratoga, his time equaled the observe document for 1¼ miles that Sir Barton had set practically three weeks earlier within the Saratoga Handicap. That efficiency ignited requires the 3-year-old juggernaut to fulfill the horse that stood out as the very best amongst Man o’ Warfare’s elders. Practically two months after the Travers, Man o’ Warfare and Sir Barton confronted the starter for “the Race of the Century,” a match race set towards the backdrop of not Saratoga nor Churchill Downs nor Belmont Park, however at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario.
Promoter A.M. “Abe” Orpen, who not solely owned the racetrack but additionally arrange the match race itself, provided the victor a $75,000 purse and commissioned Tiffany to create a gold cup, valued at $5,000, to commemorate the event. On Oct. 12, 1920, Man o’ Warfare gained the 1¼-mile match race by seven lengths, taking the wealthy purse and that gold cup. Newspapers ran {a photograph} of proprietor Samuel Riddle and coach Louis Feustel holding the cup as Man o’ Warfare gulped water from it. That second was immortalized on movie, the victory of the 20th Century’s biggest champion eternally encapsulated in its golden depths.
The trophy would stick with the Riddles for a decade and a half, till the house owners of the century’s biggest horse determined to acknowledge the Travers’s place on the roster of historic stakes races.
A Prize Most Distinctive
As 5 horses went to the publish for the 1936 Travers Stakes, the sector was competing for greater than the $20,000 purse: they have been additionally going to obtain the race’s new trophy, the Man o’ Warfare Cup, donated by Mrs. Elizabeth Riddle. The identical cup that Man o’ Warfare had drunk out of that day in 1920 would develop into the race’s perpetual trophy, celebrating the nation’s oldest stakes for 3-year-olds.
At this time, the Man o’ Warfare Cup lives in storage all year long, however, as Travers day grows nearer, this priceless trophy sees daylight once more. It stands 9 inches excessive and 12.75 inches in diameter, and is comprised of 18-carat gold atop a wood base. Engraved across the bowl’s inside are the names of the 153 winners, together with 2012’s twin winners Alpha and Golden Ticket. Under the rim of the bowl are raised letters studying “The Canadian Cup Received by Man o’ Warfare at Kenilworth October 12, 1920 in his Match Race with Sir Barton,” recognizing the origins of this immortal trophy.
Within the Travers winner’s circle, because the celebratory blanket of flowers is draped throughout the successful horse, the folks related to the winner collect for the ceremony recognizing their triumph.
A member of the Riddle household and the governor or lieutenant governor of New York presents the Man o’ Warfare Cup to the successful house owners. Photographers snap away, their pictures preserving the second, that lovely gold cup as soon as once more a reminder of the historical past of this oldest stakes for 3-year-olds. The Cup then goes again into storage, awaiting its subsequent second within the solar.
Historical past in a Cup
After the Travers, these house owners will obtain a smaller model of the trophy, a duplicate practically 7 inches excessive and 9 inches extensive commemorating their horse’s triumph. These are often gold-plated, although sterling silver editions have been made throughout World Warfare II. Guests to the Nationwide Museum of Racing and Corridor of Fame will discover Travers trophies on show, however not the unique Man o’ Warfare Cup. That particular trophy resides with the New York Racing Affiliation.
Every year, because the winners have a good time within the Saratoga winner’s circle, take a look at that gold cup and take into consideration the good horses etched inside its bowl – Whirlaway and Straightforward Goer, Native Dancer and Alydar – and consider the identify boldly imprinted round its exterior, the horse that drank from its depths on that October day in 1920, Man o’ Warfare, the best of the greats.
