WinStar Farm’s Colonel John, making only his second start on dirt, got his nose down at the wire after a head-bobbing late stretch duel with Mambo in Seattle at Saratoga Race Course to win Saturday’s 139th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes presented by Shadwell Farm.

And, for the second straight year, trainer Neil Howard was thwarted in his bid to win the 1 ¼-mile “Mid-Summer Derby” for three-year-olds. Last year, Howard saddled Grasshopper, who was beaten a half-length in the Travers by Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

“He ran well,” said a dazed Howard of Mambo in Seattle. “I’m grateful to train a horse like him. I thought he went well. He had to go around horses and he got beat by one of the Kentucky Derby favorites. I really couldn’t tell if we had won the race.”

Apparently, neither could jockey Robby Albarado. He raised his fist after the wire as if he had won.

He hadn’t.

“He ran an amazing race, and I want to thank Mr. (Will) Farish and Mr. (Neil) Howard,” Albarado said. “I thought I had it. It never feels good to lose. I just got beat.”

In the difference of a head bob, Colonel John found a bit of redemption. He had run well on the synthetic West Coast surfaces, but when he ran on dirt for the first time in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, he was the victim of a horrendous trip. He finished sixth.

Saturday, breaking from post 2 in a field of 12, the largest Travers field since 13 went to post in 1990, Colonel John saved ground as Belmont Stakes winner Da’ Tara showed the way. Jockey Alan Garcia, who had won five races on the undercard, guided Da’ Tara along in splits of 23.91, 48.06 and, 1:12.12. The field headed for home, and as Da’ Tara began to fade, Colonel John went outside to gain position, got jostled in the scrum and still emerged with the lead with a furlong to go.

It was here that he made a lifetime fan in jockey Garrett Gomez, as he held of the relentless Mambo in Seattle to claim the victory in 2:03.20.

“The way he ran today was a heck of a performance,” Gomez said. “I’ve always liked him, I was fortunate enough to be the first one to ride him in a race. Eoin was high on him then. It took me a while to get back on him and I got to watch him kind of develop. It’s been a real trip for me, to have him is unbelievable.

“The kind of trip and what he did today, it takes a special horse to do what he did because he got left a little bit. He was inside and then I got bounced around a little on the turn and then I had to jump over heels. To do that after going a mile, he still jumped up on his feet and started to quicken it and lengthen his stride. It shows that he is right up there with the top of them.”

Colonel John paid $10.40 to win, as the majority of 40,723 fans tabbed third-place finisher Pyro as the 3-1 posttime favorite.

“I certainly never lost any confidence in him,” Harty said. “When you’ve been around horses for a long time, the really good ones do things very differently than the usual ones. This one, from Day 1, had shown that. He never did anything ever to disappoint me. It was an unfortunate thing in Kentucky. In hindsight, the race he had in the Swaps was a very good race. He’s a beautiful horse to be around. He has a beautiful personality, and he’s never done anything to make me feel bad. I’m just fortunate.”

WinStar Chairman and co-owner William Casner gave credit to his wife, Susan, for spotting Colonel John’s dam, the Turkoman mare Sweet Damsel, and making her part of the team.

“My wife (Susan) deserves all the credit; she found the mare,” Casner said. “In 2001, in the back ring at Keeneland, there was a connection there that was just unique. She’s never had it before and she’s never had it since, but that was a mare that she had to have. I didn’t buy her when she was in the ring, but fortunately, she didn’t meet her reserve and I was able to buy her afterwards. But the mare has been a wonderful producer. It’s my wife’s one and only mare. Susan certainly deserves the lion’s share of the credit.”

Harty will head back to California on Sunday morning, where he will try to win another $1 million race for WinStar with Well Armed in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. While that would be a marvelous feat, it still wouldn’t top the Travers victory.

“The Travers, at least in my opinion, is certainly the second most prestigious three-year-old race, next to the Kentucky Derby,” Casner said. “It is a race for the ages.”