Frammento Looking Good for Travers

Mossarosa’s Frammento (Midshipman) remains on target for a start in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Aug. 29, trainer Nick Zito confirmed Monday. “He worked extremely well the other day and hopefully he’ll come back and do the same thing,” the Hall of Famer said of a :46.80 (3/75) breeze over the Spa main track Aug. 15. “We’ll always keep trying. It’s a very interesting race for a lot of money. We’ll see what the deal is.” The chestnut was 11th in the GI Kentucky Derby May 2 and fifth in the GI Belmont S. June 6 behind potential Travers starter American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), and was most recently fourth of four in the local GII Jim Dandy S. Aug. 1. “He worked very, very, very, very well; the best he’s worked,” Zito, who took the 2004 Travers with Birdstone, said. “He went :23 and change, :23 and change, and he was up in :59 and change. You say to yourself, ‘Why does he have to be 40 lengths behind [in his races] when he works like that?’ But, that’s his style.” Of his latest effort, Zito added, “The gates opened up and he broke on top in the Jim Dandy, and the next thing you know he was so far back. He wasn’t disgraced there. It was only a four-horse race, but they were top horses in there. This extra distance, the mile and a quarter, you never know. We’re always going to try.”