Sadler ready to cap his career-building project

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A couple of years ago, trainer John Sadler took a trip to Spain. When he got back he had a wall calendar affixed above the desk in his barn that had as its featured photo one month the Sagrada Familia, the famous church in Barcelona that was designed by the great architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1880s and which, to this day, though a major tourist attraction, remains unfinished.

That building is a metaphor for Sadler’s career.

Sadler, 62, has been one of the top trainers on the Southern California circuit for nearly four decades, building a solid foundation that includes winning multiple titles at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita, and capturing the circuit’s biggest races, including the Santa Anita Handicap, Santa Anita Derby, and Santa Anita Oaks. He has won the Golden Shaheen in Dubai, and the Arkansas Derby.

But he’s never won a Triple Crown race, and his biggest piece of unfinished business is the Breeders’ Cup. Sadler has finished second in three Breeders’ Cup races, and third seven times, but he has yet to win after sending out 41 starters.

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On Saturday here at Churchill Downs, Sadler will run four horses in a quest to end that inexplicable streak. Accelerate is the morning-line favorite in the Classic, and Catalina Cruiser is favored in the Dirt Mile. Selcourt should be one of the top choices in the Filly and Mare Sprint, and Catapult will be a middle-priced horse in the Mile on turf.

Sadler knew he would face multiple inquiries about his Breeders’ Cup record this week, and he wasn’t wrong. But he has addressed the situation head-on, and never has betrayed any ounce of annoyance.

“I haven’t been stressing over it,” he said. “I have enough confidence in our ability and our body of work. Look at all the trainers that have never won the Kentucky Derby. But that’s the environment we live in. The Derby and the Breeders’ Cup are the end-all.”

Sadler is an old soul who has great respect for the top horsemen of the past, and he has fashioned his approach to training in the image of people such as Charlie Whittingham and Willard Proctor. Although he has had starters in the Kentucky Derby, it’s never been a focal point of his operation. Sadler lets his horses develop at their own pace, and as a result usually is well represented in stakes races for older horses. And he can train any kind of horse, as his Breeders’ Cup runners show. Selcourt is a female sprinter, Catapult a grass miler, and Accelerate and Catalina Cruiser are top older horses on dirt.

Sadler got interested in horses through the show-horse world, then gravitated to the racetrack, where he apprenticed under the legendary veterinarian Jack Robbins before making training his life’s work. After stints with David Hofmans and Eddie Gregson, he struck out on his own nearly 40 years ago.

Sadler initially played the game the way many young trainers start out, mixing a handful of good horses with projects gleaned through the claiming box. In the mid-1980s and into the next decade, he was on a tear with a series of outstanding sprinters such as Frost Free, Olympic Prospect, and the mare Track Gal, and he scored one of his biggest wins of that era when he sent out the wickedly fast filly Melair to knock off Preakness winner Snow Chief in the 1986 Silver Screen Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Over the years Sadler’s barn grew both in numbers and in quality of horses, but over the last eight years Sadler has greatly emphasized quality over quantity. That is a direct result of his connection with brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis – owners of Accelerate and Catalina Cruiser – who have become Sadler’s biggest clients and are his biggest fans.

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The Hronises grew up in the Pasadena area, and attended Santa Anita in their youth. As adults, they have expanded their 70-year-old family-run business into one the biggest growers of produce in the San Joaquin Valley. Their association with Sadler has been mutually beneficial. Sadler unquestionably has the best stock he’s ever overseen, and the Hronis brothers are getting both great joy and financial rewards from a long-held passion.

“We’re just a couple of farm kids who love horses,” Pete Hronis said modestly after Accelerate won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. “We were very fortunate to meet Mr. Sadler.

“In 2010, we thought we knew stuff about the business. We knew nothing,” Kosta Hronis said. “John trained us also.”

The Hronises “are just great clients,” Sadler said. “They came at the right time in my career.”

Sadler thinks he was getting a bit stale at the dawn of the decade. He seems re-energized now. In addition to the Hronises, in recent years Sadler has added staff that includes former jockeys Juan Leyva and Alex Bisono, who are his assistant trainers at Santa Anita and at Los Alamitos, respectively.

“I’ve got great support staff. They’ve given me a lift,” Sadler said.

He has 75 horses combined between his main string at Santa Anita and his second string at Los Alamitos.

“No question, the quality has never been better,” he said.

They don’t spend wildly.

“We’re trying to buy stakes horses, but not paying $1 million,” Sadler said. “I’d rather buy four for $250,000.”

Accelerate, purchased as a yearling for $380,000 and the earner of nearly $2.5 million, could give Sadler and the Hronises their second Eclipse Award-winning horse, after Stellar Wind, the 3-year-old filly champ of 2015. Stellar Wind was second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff that year. Sadler is hoping Accelerate, 5, can nail down the older male title by going one better and winning the Classic.

Accelerate has won all three of the races he ran this year at the Classic’s distance of 1 1/4 miles. He is the top-ranked older horse in the country.

“At the beginning of the year I was still a little unsure about him getting a distance,” Sadler said of Accelerate, who until this year was thought to be at his best from a mile to 1 1/8 miles. He ran in the Dirt Mile the last two Breeders’ Cups.

“I did think he’d be one of the top horses in the country, and he’s been even better than that.”

Sadler thinks Catalina Cruiser has the potential to be the best horse he’s ever trained.

“Yeah, I think so, but we’ll only know with more races,” Sadler said. “He’s never been outworked. He puts his company away. He’s crushed them in his races.”

Catalina Cruiser, 4, heads into the Dirt Mile unbeaten in four starts. He’s a massive colt whose large frame caused Sadler to take a go-slow approach. He didn’t debut until October 2017, and after that needed more time.

“We had to stop on him after his first race because he had a little spur in his left knee,” Sadler said. “We took it out and he was good to go. He’s always been a great-looking horse, from day one. He just made us wait.”

Sadler’s done a lot of waiting for a Breeders’ Cup win. With Accelerate, Catalina Cruiser, Catapult, and Selcourt, he’ll try to put a finishing touch on his personal Sagrada Familia.

“I’m excited,” Sadler said. “I’m ready to go.”