Two years ago, Unmatched Wisdom  sold for $25,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Six months later, Klaravich Stables went to $450,000 for the son of Cairo Prince   at the Ocala Breeders’ March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.

And in winning the $135,000 listed Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course July 19, the dark bay/brown colt has made himself a horse to be reckoned with in next month’s Travers Stakes (G1).

Breaking from post 1, jockey Flavien Prat immediately took Unmatched Wisdom to the front, setting fractions of :23.58, :48.37, and 1:12.66. He was chased early by longshot Catire Vizcaya , and coming around the far turn, Corporate Power , a $925,000 yearling purchase, challenged the leader, coming within a half-length of the lead.

Rebuffed coming around the final turn, Corporate Power tried again approaching the eighth pole, eventually settling for second, a length behind Unmatched Wisdom, who ran the 1 1/8-mile race in a final time of 1:50.70 as the odds-on favorite.

Out of the Pure Prize mare Glide On By, Unmatched Wisdom was bred in Kentucky by the estate of Harvey A. Clarke, Paul Braverman, Sebastian Murat, et al.

Trainer Chad Brown selected him from Katie Miranda’s White Lilac consignment at OBS

“Mark Casse picked the horse out as a yearling, he told me after I bought him. He’s got a good eye and found this hidden gem late at Keeneland,” said Brown. “He and his family pinhooked the horse, and we provided a handsome profit for him. This horse showed a lot of ability at the 2-year-old sales, and I’m so appreciative that the Klarmans gave me the resources to buy a horse like this.

“Cairo Prince was a good racehorse, and I’ve done pretty well with Cairo Princes on dirt and turf. I’ve had a couple of grade 2-winning fillies by him. We’re looking at athletes at the 2-year-old sales, and he fit the bill.”

“Cairo Prince can get turf and dirt horses, and because he’s not one of the top sires, we thought that this horse might fall through the cracks a little bit,” said Klaravich Stables’ Seth Klarman. “He didn’t completely fall through the cracks, but fell enough to where he was within our range.”

Cairo Prince stood the 2024 breeding season for $15,000 at Airdrie Stud near Midway, Ky.

Unmatched Wisdom made his first start in May of this year, winning a maiden special weight over a muddy Aqueduct Racetrack by 6 1/4 lengths. He came back to win by 5 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct, this time over a fast track.

“He had some more seasoning today,” said Brown. “I think he got that final piece of fitness that he’s going to need as he’s playing catch up with this very deep 3-year-old crop. If he’s going to step up to the Travers from here, he’s going to have to get considerably faster again. But he got a good, hard race out of it. I like that it was a close race at the end, and he had a blow out of it.”

Despite prodigious success in the sport’s top levels, neither Brown nor Klarman has won the Travers, a hole on their résumés that they’d like to fill this year.

“Chad and I would both love to win it,” said Klarman, “and cross that off our bucket list.”

VIDEO: CURLIN S. (BT)