The ever-playful Tax is the undeniable star of trainer Danny Gargan's barn.

“He’s got a unique personality and he has got his tricks and he plays,” said Rachel Keithan, Gargan’s assistant. “When he plays, you have to be prepared for it.”

“He’s kind of spoiled, he gets a lot of attention," Gargan said. “He likes it, he enjoys it.”

The extra love shown to the three-year-old colt is for good reason. This past May, Tax became Gargan's first-ever Kentucky Derby entrant.

“We’ve only been training for six years and a horse like this is what you need to get to the next level,” Gargan said Wednesday morning. “We are hoping he can take us there.”

Two months after his 14th place Derby finish, Tax earned his most important victory to date in July's Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.

“I cried,” Keithan said, who gallops the horse each morning on the backstretch. “I cried on the way down the steps and I almost pushed the owner down the steps. Everybody was jumping around crazy and it was very special."

“It was the first time I had him fit and ready,” Gargan said. “I think it was his best race but I think it’s the first time we had him 100 percent going into a race.”

That winning performance stamped Tax as a bonafide contender in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes.

“Just being able to compete and be competitive at Saratoga is everything,” Gargan said. “Having a Travers horse is basically the next level but just being here, winning, and having big meets at Saratoga means everything because it’s the best racing in the world.”

The colt will break from the far outside in a 12-horse field.

“He’s training really good,” Keithan said. “He’s actually training better now going into the Travers then he did [at] the Jim Dandy. I have not had any bad days with him at all.”

Gargan has helped condition Travers horses before as a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito. This Saturday will mark his first time saddling a horse of his own. 

“I don’t think words could describe [winning],” Gargan said, “that would be something special.”

The Travers' favorite is the Bill Mott-trained Tacitus, a colt Tax beat in the Jim Dandy.

To see our coverage of Saratoga's racing season, click here.