Sadler's Joy looks to fire fresh in Mac Diarmida

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sadler’s Joy is a Grade 1-winning millionaire with triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in seven of his last eight starts. Yet the overriding question Saturday is whether he is good enough to win following a layoff of four months.

Sadler’s Joy, with Julien Leparoux riding, will face 11 other older horses in a terrific 23rd running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida over the Gulfstream Park turf. His trainer, Tom Albertrani, believes the late-running 5-year-old horse is entirely capable.

“He actually runs well off the layoff,” said Albertrani, who won the Mac Diarmida four years ago with Twilight Eclipse. “He showed that last year” – when edged in a photo here in the W.L. McKnight – “so I would expect to see him come back as strong as he did last year when he made his first start back.”

The Mac Diarmida, which directly precedes the featured Fountain of Youth as the 13th of 14 Saturday races, is part of the annual series of three-turn turf races at Gulfstream, which concludes with the March 31 Pan American.

“It was either this or the Pan American, and we’re ready for both,” said Albertrani.

Oscar Nominated (post 12, Jose Ortiz), the winner of the previous local race in this niche, the Jan. 27 McKnight, is one of three Mike Maker-trained horses in the Mac Diarmida, along with Markitoff (post 5, Luis Saez) and Run Time (post 10, Joel Rosario). Oscar Nominated is a pro’s pro in these long grass races, having finished first or second in 13 of 24 starts and earned more than $1.4 million.

Other alternatives include Patterson Cross (post 8, Jose Lezcano), working up a storm at Payson Park for trainer Bill Mott after having a premature end to a 2017 season that began in promising fashion; Nessy (post 9, Javier Castellano), beaten just a half-length by Oscar Nominated in the McKnight; Bernay (post 7, Tyler Gaffalione), making his second start since being turned over to Chad Brown; and Muqtaser (post 4, Joe Bravo), the runner-up in the Grade 2 Knickerbocker in his last start.

Muqtaser, said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, is “a nice horse, and he wants the distance.”

“It’s tough to get one ready to run that far off a layoff, so he might be in need of a run, but he’s doing very well,” McLaughlin said.

Post time for the Mac Diarmida is set for 5:34 p.m. Eastern. It’s a critical link in all of the late multirace wagers, including the Rainbow 6.

Holy Helena in The Very One

The filly-and-mare counterpart to the Mac Diarmida, the Grade 3 The Very One, did not come up nearly as deep, hence its placement early on the Saturday card as race 4 (post, 1 p.m.). The 1 3/16-mile turf race got a field of seven, with the 2017 Queen’s Plate winner, Holy Helena, likely to come favored after winning her turf debut here last month in allowance company.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens for owner and breeder Frank Stronach, Holy Helena will have Irad Ortiz Jr. back aboard when she breaks from post 4 in the 30th running of the $150,000 The Very One. The Ghostzapper filly romped last July in the Queen’s Plate, and now is a winner over dirt, synthetics, and turf.

“We thought it was a good time to try the turf to get a race into her and see if she liked it,” Jerkens said following her Feb. 4 score going a mile.

Whether Holy Helena can be equally effective on this stretch-out is what remains to be answered Saturday. Some of her opposition is far more experienced at this game, most notably Summersault (post 6, Castellano), who reeled off three straight wins, all for Mark Hennig, over the local course during the 2016-17 championship meet, culminating with the Grade 3 Orchid, and Daring Duchess (post 3, Jose Ortiz), who surely will go a long way out front.