There was talk after West Point Thoroughbreds' Counting Stars (Honor A.P.) won the GI Acorn Stakes that she might take on the boys in the GI Travers Stakes should she prove dominant again in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks.“I don't want to get ahead of ourselves too much, but if Counting Stars gives the same kind of race in the CCA Oaks coming up then [West Point's] Terry [Finley] and I might be having a conversation about the Travers. We'll see,” trainer Mark Casse told Ren Hakim Carothers after the win in the Acorn. “She's the first filly I nominated to the Triple Crown in I don't know how many years. That's how highly I thought of her.”On Saturday, after another impressive victory by the star 3-year-old filly in the CCA Oaks, there was no mention of the Travers. Casse is looking at the more conventional route, another start against fillies in the GI Alabama Stakes Aug. 22.Casse obviously knows what he is doing and there's nothing wrong with being careful, but it makes all the sense in the world to give the Travers a try. Why? Because she's that good, and she can win it. She got a 100 Beyer in the Coaching Club, good enough to suggest she can handle the top males.“She does things that normal horses don't do,” Casse said of Counting Stars after the win.A win in the Alabama would prove nothing. After having soundly beaten a very good filly in GI Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner (Gun Runner) in successive races, Counting Stars has proven that she's the best in the division and is close to wrapping up an Eclipse Award. There's no one else out there that she needs to be afraid of.Maybe Counting Stars would lose to Golden Tempo (Curlin), Renegade (Into Mischief), Commandment (Into Mischief) or the other heavyweights of the division. But she has little to lose. She can go back to her division and point for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.But a win would vault her into the Horse of the Year race and, who knows, put her into the conversation as a Hall of Famer. Yes, Counting Stars and Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) have different owners, but it's a bit ironic that Casse is pointing the latter to the GI Whitney Stakes, where she'll have to tackle some of the best older males in training, but doesn't have the same aspirations for Counting Stars.The history of fillies in the Travers is a strange one. From 1865 through 1915, the race was won by a filly seven times. In modern times, only five fillies, Cicada, Chris Evert, Davona Dale, Wonder Gadot and Thorpedo Anna, have entered the Travers. Chris Evert finished third, but the best showing came from Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). She finished second, beaten just a head by Fierceness (City of Light). That performance came after she won the Acorn and the Coaching Club American Oaks and went a long way toward cementing her reputation as one of the greatest fillies of all time. It was among the many reasons she was named Horse of the Year in 2024.Wonder Gadot, who wasn't half the horse Counting Stars is, was also trained by Casse. An Ontario-bred, she came into the Travers off wins against Canadian-bred colts in the Queen's Plate and the Prince of Wales Stakes.“We've never shied away from running against the colts, and we're not going to shy away now,” Casse said prior to the race.That Wonder Gadot was trounced in the 2018 Travers, losing by 19 1/2 lengths, may have soured Casse on running fillies in the Midsummer Derby.This is far from a no-brainer. The Travers will be a very tough spot and the Alabama is a prestigious race and a win there by Counting Stars would mean a sweep of the three Grade I races for fillies run at Saratoga. But a win in the Travers would put her in very special company and could lead the way to her being named Horse of the Year. It's a goal worth pursuing.Can Irad Pull Off Another Saratoga Title?Six days into the Saratoga meet, it looked like Irad Ortiz Jr. didn't have a prayer of winning the meet title, something he had accomplished for four straight years. He missed the first five days due to a suspension and the sixth day when he ventured to Horseshoe Indianapolis, where he won the GIII Indiana Derby aboard Leading Change (Gun Runner). At the time, his brother, Jose, led the standings with 14 wins and Flavien Prat was next with 12.Irad Ortiz | Sarah AndrewAfter his incredible Saturday at Saratoga, remarkably, he's right back in the race. He won six races to tie the record for most wins on a single day at Saratoga. He tied the mark set by Hall of Famers Ramon Dominguez and John Velazquez. He won both graded stakes on the card, the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GII Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes. He now has 16 wins at the meet and trails Prat, who leads with 24, by only eight winners. Jose Ortiz is next at 22. Given the momentum Irad Ortiz has and that there is a long way to go in the meet, don't count out what would be a remarkable comeback and a fifth straight Saratoga title for the future Hall of Famer.It wasn't a bad day for Jose Ortiz either. He had three winners, meaning the Ortiz brothers won nine of the 12 races on the card.Journalism Was a ThrowbackYou have to give credit to the owners of Journalism (Curlin), who never ducked a challenge. That's rare these days. He won three Grade I races, the Preakness, the Haskell and the Santa Anita Derby, and also gave it his all repeatedly against the best horses in training. He lost seven of 14 starts, but each one came against a stellar opponent. He was beaten by Nysos (Nyquist), White Abarrio (Race Day), Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel ({Jpn}), Fierceness (City of Light), and twice by Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief).Journalism | BenoitHe got some class relief when lining up against a modest group of opponents in the GII San Diego Handicap, which may have been the best race of his career. Left at the gate and spotting the field several lengths, he roared back to win by three-quarters of a length. But he suffered an injury in the starting gate in the San Diego and was retired.He's off now to Coolmore America, where he will stand at stud. If he produces horses that have the same consistency, grit and talent that he had, he will do just fine as a sire.The post The Week in Review: Counting Stars and the Travers: Go for It? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.