Measured Time will point to Arlington Million, Appleby says

Measured Time will stay 1 1/2 miles, his trainer, Charlie Appleby believes, but the colt won’t get a chance to prove it for a while.

Measured Time won his first Grade or Group 1 race Saturday at Saratoga, capturing the 1 3/16-mile Manhattan Stakes by two lengths, and with a steadily improving pattern and only eight starts behind him, odds are it won’t be his last.

Measured Time tried 1 1/2 miles once before, finishing second in an all-weather race at Kempton Park in England in November. He came to Saratoga after a solid fourth-place finish going 1 1/8 miles in the Group 1 Dubai Turf on the March 30 Dubai World Cup card. Appleby said that distance fell short of Measured Time’s best, and that the outside pressing trip the colt got at Saratoga played more to the colt’s strengths than the inside stalking trip he got in the Dubai Turf.

Measured Time, who appeared to win with something left, was clocked in 1:51.94, a raw time that yielded a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Only two horses have gotten a better figure this year in turf races at one mile and longer, and both are trained by Appleby for Godolphin: Master of the Seas earned a 108 winning the Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland, while Silver Knott got a 106 winning the 1 3/8-mile Man O’War on May 11 at Aqueduct.

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Master of the Seas, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile last fall, is being aimed at the Fourstardave at Saratoga, while Silver Knott, who has improved massively this year as a 4-year-old, will start in the Bowling Green over 1 3/8 miles on July 28 at Saratoga.

With Appleby talking about the Breeders’ Cup Turf as a long term goal for Measured Time, one might imagine the 1 1/2-mile Sword Dancer on Aug. 24 at Saratoga would be on his schedule, but Appleby and Godolphin are sending 2022 BC Turf winner Rebel’s Romance to that race. Rebel’s Romance is a 6-year-old by Dubawi out of the Street Cry mare, Minidress, who also produced 4-year-old Measured Time, who is by Frankel.

Appleby said Measured Time will be pointed to the Arlington Million over 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 10 at Colonial Downs. That could leave a race like the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in the fall as a first attempt over 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Nation’s Pride, runner-up in the Manhattan, is not quite a 1 1/2-mile horse, Appleby believes, and could target the Bowling Green or the United Nations next month at Monmouth Park, both races at 1 3/8 miles.

There are more horses in the division who will need spots. Naval Power was narrowly defeated in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill in May in a 1 1/8-mile race, and he, too, has a 104 Beyer on his form this year. And finally, there is Ottoman Fleet, who got a 101 Beyer narrowly losing the Fort Marcy at Aqueduct before winning the June 1 Arlington Stakes at Churchill.

Appleby is heading back to his base in England. His American string is going to stay busy this summer.

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