Next summer will mark a full decade since Rachel Alexandra - once of racing’s all-time greats - famously beat the boys in Saratoga’s Woodward Stakes. In Saturday’s Travers Stakes, the filly Wonder Gadot is looking to match those heroics. 

If Wonder Gadot is able to get the best of her 10 rivals on Saturday, she’ll be the first filly since Lady Rotha’s triumph in 1915 to win the Travers Stakes.

 

 

 

"We sure didn’t realize it had been 100 years since one had won, but now I think it’s more intriguing," said her trainer, Mark Casse.

Despite the century-long gender gap in Saratoga’s oldest and most prestigious contest, racing writer Teresa Genaro says fillies do have a proud history in the “Mid-Summer Derby.”

"Not only was it the norm, but quite frequently, fillies made up the bulk of the field," Genaro said. "A filly named Maiden won the Travers in its second running, and I think four of the seven horses were fillies."

In between Maiden and Lady Rotha came five other fillies who beat the boys in the Travers. None of them shined any brighter than Hall of Fame inductee Ruthless in 1867.

"She also won the Belmont that year," Genaro said. "... There are not that many male horses that have won both the Belmont and the Travers, and she was a filly who did it."

The last to try was Davona Dale in 1979. 

Already a two-time victor against colts in Canada, Wonder Gadot will aim to join a proud female legacy in the Travers’ 149th edition.

"Always when a girl can beat the boys, it’s something special, and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of ladies out there rooting for her on Saturday," Casse said.