By Alan Carasso
A little less than a decade ago, Puerto Rican native Manuel Franco guided Joking (Distorted Humor) to a victory in the Vosburgh Stakes for the first Grade I of his career. A week later he won another. Franco has done things very much the old-fashioned way since, working his way through the ranks riding against some of the most gifted riders in one of the deepest colonies in the country while methodically gaining the confidence of some of the top outfits that call New York home.
With the Saturday sun beginning to set on Saratoga Race Course, the 'Summer of Manny' reached its pinnacle when Wathnan Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Leading Change (Gun Runner–Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats) knuckled down with time ticking away in the $1.25-million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes and–belying his relative inexperience–clawed his way past GI Preakness Stakes hero Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) for a half-length success. Back in third was fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Golden Tempo (Curlin), the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes hero, who gradually worked his way into the race to be a final-furlong threat before settling for third.
To win races at a 20% clip is a lofty achievement at any track that hosts Thoroughbred racing. To do so at Saratoga is on a different level altogether. Entering Saturday's action, Franco had amassed a healthy 58 winners to sit just behind Jose Ortiz and Flavien Prat in the jockeys' standings and well clear of fourth. Had the meet ended already, it would have been one to remember, given his victories in the GI Christophe Clement Turf (Survie {Ire}) for Miguel Clement and last weekend's GI Alabama Stakes for Chad Brown.
And now this, a second win in the marquee race on the summer calendar, having scooped the race in 2020 with Tiz the Law (Constitution).
“All I can say is wow,” Franco told FOX Sports' Maggie Wolfendale as they jogged past the seven-furlong pole on the way back to the winner's circle. “Thanks to [trainer] Brad Cox, the owners and to John Panagot, my agent.”
Named a 'Rising Star' off a smashing 6 1/2-length debut success going seven furlongs at Churchill Downs June 7, the $800,000 Keeneland September yearling–whose half-sister Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) upset the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks–was tested for class straightaway in the GIII Indiana Derby July 11. While it wasn't the most rigorous examination of what the colt might have under the hood, he passed the test on several levels with flying colors, withstanding a strong late bid from the much more experienced Our Moneyman (Mr. Money) while trying a distance of ground for the first time to score by a neck.
'Big-Time Talent' Up To The Task
Sent off a 10-1 chance by the Saratoga faithful in the race in which his superstar sire was beaten some 15 lengths into third by Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) in 2016, Leading Change bounced beautifully from gate two and led them under the line for the first time, but Preakness winner Napoleon Solo took over rounding the first turn and Franco was content to allow Leading Change to enjoy the run of the race from third on the tail of the pacesetter. 'Rising Star' Sea Strike (Midshipman), so impressive in winning the restricted Curlin Stakes last time that he was made the 7-2 third betting choice, prompted the tempo from the outside.
The pace, which mapped well above-par on paper, was not that demanding in actual fact, as Napoleon Solo held the call after modest fractions of :47.95 for the half-mile and six panels in a very manageable 1:12.62. Sea Strike looked poised to pounce beneath the red-hot Flavien Prat nearing the stretch, but Franco had been able to keep his powder dry behind the front-runners on Leading Change and the pair popped out three deep to deliver their challenge at the head of the lane.
In the meantime, Golden Tempo, the GI Kentucky Derby winner and making his first start since taking the GI Belmont Stakes over course and distance 12 weeks ago, had made steady progress after racing with only GII Jim Dandy Stakes winner and second pick Renegade (Into Mischief) behind him down the backstretch and was spying a gap one off the fence between the rail-riding Napoleon Solo and the weakening Sea Strike inside the final eighth of a mile. But Leading Change had all the answers and surged past a game Napoleon Solo in the dying strides for a famous victory, with Franco triumphantly waving his stick under the line.
“I had the trip that we expected,” Franco said. “We wanted to be forward, behind Napoleon Solo and Sea Strike, I just sit on the rail the whole way around. Going to the five-sixteenths, my horse was going forward, and I felt that I got horse under me. We turned for home, I put him on the outside and he just leveled out. He was digging in. I was happy with the way he finished up.”
Added Cox: “We've always thought he was a big-time talent. He showed it before today in his first two starts and he was able to get it done today. 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.”
Trainer Chad Summers was full of pride with the performance of Napoleon Solo.
“He ran so hard. We toyed with running in the [Grade I] Pennsylvania Derby off of this. There's no chance,” he said. “So, we'll get back to the barn. We are going to get him back to Belmont on Monday, give him a few days to get over this. We'll nominate to the [Breeders' Cup] Dirt Mile and Classic. We'll see where it goes, how each race kind of shapes up. We'll make a plan with the ownership group.”
Of the beaten favorite Golden Tempo, trainer Cherie DeVaux was seeing the glass as half-full.
“He was far back. It just didn't work out with the lack of pace. He had too much to do. He came back fine and that's what is important,” she said.
Another Big-Race Rosette For Team Wathnan
The Travers is hardly the first major race won together by Wathnan Racing–the worldwide racing operation of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani–and trainer Brad Cox.
The Wathnan colors have been carried to victory by the likes of the privately acquired Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), who claimed the scalp of future GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the 2025 G1 Dubai World Cup, while fellow KEESEP purchase Commandment (Into Mischief) won this year's GI Curlin Florida Derby before finishing second to Golden Tempo in the GI Belmont Stakes and to Renegade in the Jim Dandy.
Leading Change was nearing a debut during last year's Keeneland fall meeting, but according to Wathnan's U.S. Racing Manager Case Clay, came up with some bone bruising, necessitating his scratching.
“Just going back to September last year before Leading Change had to scratch at Keeneland, I remember Brad coming up to me at the September Sale and saying, 'This is the horse you want,'” Clay said. “So, I knew he had a lot of confidence, and he gave him a lot of time after.
“If he was going to win today, it was going to be on talent,” he continued. “Yes, physically he is a stretchy, two-turn, big, good-looking horse that looks like he could have gotten 10 furlongs, so, the day after the Belmont, he won the seven-furlong race at Churchill Downs, then Brad thought, 'let's go Indiana Derby, first time around two turns, see if that works, and then 10 furlongs,' so he won on talent over seasoning today.”
Pedigree Notes:
Leading Change is the 16th top-level winner for Gun Runner and is bred on the exact same cross at My Gun's Loaded. A.P. Indy-line mares are responsible for an additional six of the stallion's Grade I winners–three out of mares by Malibu Moon (Sierra Leone, Locked, Always A Runner, all 'TDN Rising Stars'); and one each by Flatter ('Rising Star' Taiba); Tapit (Society); and Sky Mesa ('Rising Star' Further Ado).
The late Congrats was being represented by his ninth elite-level scorer as a broodmare sire, a list that includes the aforementioned Forever Young and his compatriot, the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Danon Decile (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}).
Mandy Pope bought out her partners in Shedaresthedevil when securing the mare for $5 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and the mare's first foal, a now-juvenile filly named Tinker Taylor (Gun Runner), was sold to Erdenheim Farm for $1.475 million at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. Shedaresthedevil produced another Gun Runner filly this past season.
Leading Change is the last listed produce for Starship Warpspeed.
LEADING CHANGE wins the G1 @DraftKings Travers!
He stays perfect at 3-for-3, delivering the biggest win of his career under @jockeyfranco for trainer @bradcoxracing! pic.twitter.com/bCNIkOlMSR
— NYRA (🎪) (@TheNYRA) August 29, 2026
Saturday, Saratoga
DRAFTKINGS TRAVERS S.-GI, $1,250,000, Saratoga, 8-29, 3yo, 1 1/4m, 2:02.98, ft.
1–LEADING CHANGE, 126, c, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats
2nd Dam: Andria's Forest, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Andriana B., by Far North
'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($800,000 Ylg '24
KEESEP). O-Wathnan Racing; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad
Cox; J-Manuel Franco. $687,500. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0,
$934,196. *1/2 to Mojovation (Quality Road), GSP, $375,988,
Star of Wonder (Uncle Mo), SW-KSA, GSP-USA, $419,347 and
Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil), MGISW, $2,777,458. Werk Nick
Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Napoleon Solo, 126, c, 3, Liam's Map–Atomic Blonde, by Scat
Daddy. ($40,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Espoir USA, Inc.; B-John D.
Gunther & Eurowest Bloodstock (KY); T-Chad Summers.
$250,000.
3–Golden Tempo, 126, c, 3, Curlin–Carrumba, by Bernardini.
'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Phipps Stable & St. Elias Stables, LLC
(KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. $150,000.
Margins: HF, 1 3/4, 1. Odds: 10.38, 7.95, 2.34.
Also Ran: The Puma, Emerging Market, Sea Strike, Baby Vino, Renegade, Ocelli, Silent Tactic. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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