Sadler gets feet wet with Heywoods Beach in Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer John Sadler brought four horses from his California base to Keeneland. Heywoods Beach is the standard-bearer for the outfit as he is the first of the quartet to go postward in the Grade 2, $350,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes, a 1 5/8-mile marathon event that anchors the Breeders’ Cup Friday undercard.

Sadler’s big star of the weekend is, of course, Flightline, who puts his unbeaten record on the line as the favorite for Saturday evening’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. Sadler also will saddle Bran in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and Edgeway in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Heywoods Beach races for Hronis Racing, which co-owns Flightline and owns Bran and Edgeway. This 5-year-old has found his niche this season – the longer, the better. His two wins this year have come in the Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes and Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup – the latter by a neck against Win the Day, who he faces again Friday – both at 1 1/2 miles. His two losses this year came at a mile and at 1 3/8 miles.

“He’s a very good marathon horse,” Sadler said.

With this distance a rarity in American dirt racing, few in this field have had the opportunity to run such a route of ground. Cupid’s Claws was third in this race last year when it was held at Del Mar, but is winless this year. Next is coming off a runaway 18 1/4-length win in the Cape Henlopen Stakes going 1 1/2 miles at Delaware Park. That race was taken off the turf and contested on a wet-fast track; the conditions will be quite different Friday.

Rattle N Roll, a Grade 1 winner at Keeneland as a juvenile, faces older horses for the first time. He has won three stakes from his last four outings, most recently the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at 1 1/8 miles.

The TAA is one of five races that precede the Breeders’ Cup’s five 2-year-old stakes on Friday. Juveniles also are a central part of this undercard. The day’s second race, a $150,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies, marks the debut of Brad Cox trainee Magical Song, a Tapit filly out of two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird.

A $160,000 allowance-level event for 2-year-olds prompted Bob Baffert to ship Arabian Lion, a colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify, from California. A $600,000 purchase earlier this year, Arabian Lion was a three-length debut winner with a flashy Beyer Speed Figure of 92.

The card also has a pair of competitive allowance races for 3-year-olds and up. Ethereal Road and B Dawk, one-two in the 1 1/16-mile Sir Barton Stakes in May, match up again at the same distance in the first race, a $185,000 second-level allowance. B Dawk, an impressive maiden winner at Keeneland in April, recently finished second in the Perryville Stakes to Gunite, who runs in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Both those races were at seven furlongs; he stretches back out Friday.

A $160,000 allowance rematches Marsalis and Spartan Army, second and third, respectively, behind a next-out winner at Churchill Downs in September. The well-bred Marsalis was making his first start off a layoff and should be tighter Friday.