A field of 12 horses will head to the post on Saturday trying to win the 139th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. The field will be the largest since 13 horses were entered in 1990.

Any number of horses could win including Belmont Stakes winner Da’Tara. The $1 Million dollar Travers should provide horse betting players with a lot of good options and could be one of the best horse races this year.

Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out Harlem Rocker in the Travers and the horse will be one of the favorites. Since Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown is not in the field, Harlem Rocker and Mambo in Seattle are two of the logical contenders.

Also in the Travers Stakes betting mix should be Da’Tara, Louisiana Derby winner Pyro, Santa Anita Derby winner Colonel John, Wood Memorial winner Tale of Ekati, Jim Dandy winner Macho Again, and Swaps Stakes winner Tres Borrachos.

That should make this Travers very competitive and a great horse betting race. ESPN will provide live coverage of the race on Saturday.

If you were hoping for a matchup between 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin and Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, don’t hold your breath. The connections of both horses recently talked about the possibility of Curlin and Big Brown meeting on the racetrack and neither side looked likely to budge.

Curlin owner Jess Jackson said that he would donate $50,000 to charity if Big Brown would run against Curlin in the $500,000 Woodward on August 30th. That is not going to happen since Big Brown’s connections say the Woodward is not in their plans.

"It's disappointing that he's got to require us to run in a race to give money to charity," said Michael Iavarone, the head of the International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Stable, "We're not running in the Woodward, it's never been part of our plan.”

Iavarone said that the plan for Big Brown is to run the horse on the turf in a prep race with the ultimate plan being the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on October 25th. "We'll up the stakes if he wants to run in the Breeders' Cup," Iavarone said about Curlin. "We'll come together on some kind of agreement with them to give more to charity.