Spring Quality, Sadler's Joy might get rematch in Bowling Green

ELMONT, N.Y. – Spring Quality and Sadler’s Joy, the one-two finishers in the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Stakes on Saturday, might meet again in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes on July 28 at Saratoga.

Sadler’s Joy as of Sunday seemed the more solid Bowling Green participant; trainer Graham Motion said no plans had been set for Spring Quality, and that a race like the Arlington Million also could be considered.

More than the top two Manhattan finishers merit attention going forward. Something like six lengths separated the entire 13-horse field, and the distance between each of the first nine horses under the wire was a neck or a head. But to the winner go the spoils – and in Spring Quality’s case, a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

George Strawbridge bred Spring Quality and campaigns him under the nom du course Augustin Stables, and Motion credited Strawbridge’s patience for Spring Quality’s rapid emergence midway through his 5-year-old season. Now 6, Spring Quality won his career debut on Oct. 24, 2014, but didn’t race again until March 12, 2016. He won that race, too, but then needed another 11 months before starting again.

“It really was never anything major with him, just nagging lameness that I don’t think we every really diagnosed,” said Motion.

Spring Quality, by Quality Road and out of the Deputy Minister mare Spring Star, is a mountain of a horse and likely needed time to grow into his frame. The pedigree leans dirt, and Motion, with a sound beast finally at his disposal, targeted Pennsylvania-bred races on the main track. It wasn’t until the Knickerbocker last October that Motion switched his horse to turf, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Motion, who won the 2017 Manhattan with longshot Ascend, said that with the Manhattan as an early-season goal, not a great deal of consideration had been given to points beyond Saturday’s race. Spring Quality won the Manhattan over 1 1/4 miles but captured the Red Smith last November at the Bowling Green’s distance of 1 3/8 miles. And given the look of the gelding and the way he finished off Saturday’s race, 1 1/2 miles figures to be within his scope, which opens for consideration several important races through late summer and fall.

One and one-half miles is the best trip for Sadler’s Joy, and he acquitted himself admirably with his Manhattan near-miss while going a quarter-mile short of that distance, making a sustained run to wrest away the lead in the final furlong, only to be tagged at the wire.

“It was a tough beat, but we’re really, really pleased,” said Tom Albertrani, who trains the 5-year-old Sadler’s Joy for breeder Woodslane Farm.

“He ran a really big race considering we’re not at our best distance,” Albertrani said. Jockey Javier Castellano “did a good job timing it. He got him into the race a little earlier.”

Albertrani said Sadler’s Joy likely will get a brief respite from racing and be aimed at the Bowling Green. Sadler’s Joy won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga over 1 1/2 miles last summer and was a close fourth at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.