Bolshoi Ballet sweeps to easy win in Sword Dancer
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – John Velazquez weighed out after the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes, handed his helmet to a valet, put on a cap with a sponsor logo, and heard a kid on the rail shout his name.
“Nice ride, Johnny!”
Velazquez shrugged. “He won it easy,” he said.
The “he” was Bolshoi Ballet, a horse who was recently shipped back to the U.S. after taking a year off and then failing to find his footing in England over the past six months. The fifth choice in the six-horse Sword Dancer, Bolshoi Ballet sheltered behind the early pacesetters in the 1 1/2-mile race, made his move on the backstretch, and then surged to the front in the stretch, winning easy-as-you-please by 4 1/2 lengths.
The Sword Dancer was Bolshoi Ballet’s first win in more than two years. Way back on July 21, 2021, Bolshoi Ballet truly looked like something when winning the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in his first start in the U.S. after six starts in Europe. But his career had fizzled since then. He came up short in three stakes in the U.S. following the Belmont Derby, then went back to Hong Kong, took 11 months off, and resumed racing in England and Ireland without getting a win, including a 21 1/2-length drubbing in a Group 1 stakes at Royal Ascot in his previous start.
:: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more.
T. J. Comerford, the assistant for Aiden O’Brien, said that Bolshoi Ballet had been showing signs of improvement over the past few months, despite the less-than-stellar results on the racetrack.
“He was training well at home,” Comerford said. “He’s been taking on horses at a high level at home, so it just worked out that he was starting to come around.”
The turf course was rated “good” for the Sword Dancer, and Comerford had indicated earlier this week that he was hoping for firmer ground, based on Bolshoi Ballet’s performances in Europe.
“He’s a much better horse over quicker ground, and he probably wants quicker ground than this,” Comerford said.
The pacesetter in the Sword Dancer was Channel Maker, the 9-year-old gelding who continues to keep company with the best long-distance turf runners in the U.S. despite a falloff in form since his championship season in 2020. Channel Maker came into the Sword Dancer off a wire-to-wire win in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes four weeks ago at Saratoga, and it seemed clear that he was going to need an easy lead to make it two in a row.
He didn’t get it. Stone Age, who, like Bolshoi Ballet, is owned by the connections of Coolmore, pressed Channel Maker right out of the gate, and the two went neck-and-neck through a quick opening quarter of 23.65. Manuel Franco then got Channel Maker to relax, and the two went through the next quarter in 25.07 (49.58) and then three-quarters in 1:15.93, without changing position or gait.
Velazquez was just biding his time on Bolshoi Ballet in third on the rail, based on O’Brien’s instructions to “give him a little break for the first half of the race.” He asked Bolshoi Ballet for more as Channel Maker started retreating, and it wasn’t very thrilling from there. Bolshoi Ballet took the lead going into the stretch, and when Velazquez nudged him, “he was gone,” Velazquez said.
The final time was 2:29.29, which equated to a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best for Bolshoi Ballet and the top number on the turf in 2023. Bolshoi Ballet was followed to the wire by Soldier Rising, the second choice, with Pioneering Spirit in third.
The Sword Dancer is a "Win and You’re In" race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Comerford said that the horse will likely be pointed to the race. “I think so,” he said. “It’s late in the year and there’s probably not much he can do.”
As for Channel Maker, who finished fifth, Mott said that he will talk to the gelding’s owners.
“Retirement is always out there,” he said. “But if there’s nothing wrong with him, who knows? Maybe they’ll go on with him for awhile.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.