SARATOGA SPRINGS — Inducted in 1975, trainer Allen Jerkens earned his Hall of Fame credentials with the upsets of some of racing’s biggest stars, names like Secretariat, Kelso, Buckpasser and Cicada.

Trainer Nick Zito, who followed Jerkens into the Hall of Fame 30 years later, has found similar success as a spoiler, partic­ularly in dashing the Triple Crown dreams of Smarty Jones in 2004 and Big Brown this year.

For only the second time, the two will meet in the $1 million Travers, a wide-open, 12-horse affair with eight graded stakes winners, led by tepid 7-2 program favorite Pyro.

In 2002, Zito ran third to Medaglia d’Oro with Nothing Flat, while Jerkens was fifth with Puzzlement. That was Jerkens’ last Travers appearance; Zito has been back with eight horses, winning with Birdstone in 2004.

Among more heralded names like Pyro, Colonel John, Da’ Tara, Macho Again, Tale of Ekati, Cool Coal Man and Court Vision, Jerkens will send out Tizbig just six days after being the runner-up in a second-level Saratoga allowance.

“He’s doing well, and looking well and eating good,” Jerkens said. “I’m hoping that he’ll do something. Onion, when he beat Secretariat [in the 1973 Whitney at Sar­atoga], only ran four days before. He set the track record on a Tuesday.”

Nicknamed “The Chief” and the “Giant Killer,” Jerkens has never won the Travers in four tries. His best finish came in his first attempt, running second with Devil His Due in 1992.

“I’d like to think we have some sort of a chance. You don’t just like to throw money away,” Jerkens said. “You just hope for the best, and maybe it’ll work. You’ve got to try.”

Zito will have a quarter of the field for the 139th Travers, with Belmont Stakes winner Da’ Tara, Fountain of Youth winner Cool Coal Man and Amped.

A July allowance winner, Amped was another last-minute Travers entrant. He ran third to Travers contender Mambo in Seattle in the $90,000 Henry Walton at Saratoga July 27, and was being pointed to an overnight stake on Travers eve that didn’t fill.

“The horse is ready to run,” Zito said. “He came out of the same race as Mambo in Seattle, we were close to him and people like Mambo in Seattle, so that’s why I did it. Plus, I think he’s a mile and a quarter horse, and you don’t get many chances for distance.”

The inclusion of Tizbig figures to directly impact the Travers tempo, matching Da’ Tara’s front-running style. Pressed every step of the way in the Grade II Jim Dandy before fading to last, Da’ Tara stole the Belmont on the front end after being left alone on an easy lead.

“I don’t like it, but I respect him,” Zito said. “If it was anybody else, I’d probably be cursing.

“There’s only one ‘Giant Killer,’ to use that word. It’s an honor to be mentioned in the same breath with him, sometimes, doing some of the things we’ve done over the years, but he certainly stands alone in that regard. I don’t ever question anything he does. Ever.”

Meet-leading trainer and six-time Saratoga champion Todd Pletcher goes after his second Travers with Canadian classic winner Harlem Rocker, the 4-1 second choice who is undefeated on conventional dirt.

No surprise

When the field came out, Pletcher was not surprised to see Jerkens’ horse among the entries.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he won, either,” Pletcher said. “Anything that man does, I respect. We were at the Turf Writers’ awards dinner the other night, I’m looking at the program, and there’s a man that was trainer of the year in 1957, 10 years before I was born. He’s still out here winning races.”

Pyro won the Grade III Risen Star and Grade II Louisiana Derby before his Polytrack debacle in the Blue Grass and subsequent eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Given a freshening, he came back to win the Grade III Northern Dancer, and run a fast-closing second to Macho Again in the Jim Dandy.

“Trying to get two good races out of a horse here sometimes is pretty tricky,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “I think the trip’s going to be the key to the Travers this year, especially for him.”

Winner of the Grade III Withers a week before the Derby, Harlem Rocker skipped the Preakness in favor of the Plate Trial, the first leg of Canada’s triple crown, run on Polytrack. After finishing fourth, he came back to win the Prince of Wales in convincing, if not fast, fashion.

“He is doing awfully well,” Pletcher said. “Who knows what would have happened if we’d run him in the Preakness, but I feel like we’ve arrived here in really good shape.”

Sixth in the Derby as the second choice in his only start on dirt, Colonel John arrived from California this week. Winner of the Grade I Santa Anita Derby and Grade III Sham, he spotted significant weight and was caught out of his game, running third to another Travers foe, Tres Borrachos, in the Grade II Swaps last month.

“Since the Derby, this has pretty much been the goal,” trainer Eoin Harty said. “It is a wide-open race. I think it’s a really deep, contentious field.”

With an extra eighth of a mile to run, Zito isn’t expecting a repeat of the speed duel that cooked Da’ Tara in the Jim Dandy.

“Da’ Tara’s a classy horse. The last time was absolutely suicidal,” Zito said. “He’s training absolutely brilliant, just like he did for the Belmont. I see a definite rebound in his future.”

Tale of Ekati is another Grade I winner, that coming in Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial, the top Derby prep in New York. Tale of Ekati was fourth in both the Derby and Jim Dandy, and sixth in the Belmont.

“I love the way he’s doing, right now. I feel really good about him,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “I’m pretty high on my horse, really. He might be 20-1 in the morning line, but I like the way he’s come up to this race. I think he’s a good enough horse to win.”

Mambo in Seattle has picked up plenty of support following his victory in the Henry Walton on the Jim Dandy undercard, won in a faster time than the main event. It was the third straight win for the late-developing colt from trainer Neil Howard, who nearly upset Derby winner Street Sense in last year’s Travers with Grasshopper, who came off a similar scenario.

“He missed the early races as a 3-year-old,” Howard said. “Sometimes, there is life after the Triple Crown. He is relatively fresh, and we feel like he is going the right way. Everything’s gone smooth coming to it; now, it’s just a matter of if he’s that kind of horse.”

Rounding out the field is Court Vision, who drew outside post 12. A two-time graded winner at 2, Court Vision is 0-for-5 in 2008, having made his last two starts on turf after finishing 13th in the Derby.

He is owned by IEAH Stable, which decided to bypass the Travers with Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.

“The post definitely does not help us. It would have been good for Big Brown,” IEAH partner Mike Iavarone said. “If he works out a good trip, I think he fits with these horses as much as anybody does.”