THERE’s no doubt that Godolphin’s Essential Quality is one of the best horses in the US. The attractive grey is also one of the most photographed. Those on social media will also see that he is one of the most laid-back characters, frequently captured asleep in his barn.
That lazy attitude also seems to spill over to the racetrack, and though his has only once been beaten in his eight races, he often makes hard work of getting to the winning post first.
He was an odds-on favourite and clearly the best horse in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday, but was soon being pushed along by his rider Luis Saez after two furlongs.
Again he was taken wide by his rider, five wide on the backstretch, but he moved into contention in the five-horse field on the bend and the homebred son of Tapit was kept up to his work by Joel Rosario as Keepmeinmind then challenged along the rail. The grey kept digging in and fended off the Grade 2 winner by a half-length.
“We had a horse slip up inside him that looked like he had some run left, so it made for some anxious moments down the lane. But overall he was very determined and had the heart of a champion. He’s a very good horse … he’s able to dig in and fight and move on,” trainer Brad Cox said.
Essential Quality covered the nine furlongs in 1m49.92secs on a fast track and moved his earnings to over $3.5 million.
“The really good horses, they just show up and find a way to get things done and he has seemed to have done that for nearly every start,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Godolphin USA added.
“He was a little wide but he found a way and overcame what he needed to do to get the job done and that’s the mark of a really good horse.”
It was the colt’s first outing since his June 5th win in the Belmont Stakes and the Jim Dandy was a prep race for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at the end of the month over the same distance.
Cox could hold a strong hand for the Travers as Juddmonte’s Mandaloun, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes upon the disqualification of Hot Rod Charlie, is also a possible contender.
Cross Border
There were two Grade 1s on the Saratoga card and in the Bowling Green Stakes last year’s winner, Cross Border, notched his first win in eight outings since with a repeat victory.
The now seven-year-old ridgeling was placed in six of those races, including the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes and Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes.
“He’s a model of consistency and durability. Hopefully, we have another couple of years with him,” trainer Mike Maker said.
Sent off as the fifth choice of eight, Luis Saez settled Cross Border in third on the inside as Channel Cat set the pace from Channel Maker in second, all three sons of English Channel.
Cross Border was driven by Saez entering the final turn and challenged four-wide on the turn. He got his head in front down the stretch to run the 10 furlongs in 2m 03.43secs, winning by a length and a quarter from Rockemperor and Shamrocket.
“He loves it here. This is a special horse that I love riding. He always tries hard,” Saez said. “Today, he ran huge. When we came to the top of the stretch, he really gave me that kick and he battled. He always wants to give me everything.”
There are better horses than these on turf in the US, but European challengers should have no fears looking ahead to the Breeders’ Cup.
Cross Border is likely to head next to the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on the Travers card at the end of the month.
Calumet Farm’s homebred Lexitonian caused a surprise in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at odds of 34/1 for trainer Jack Sisterson.
Hustled to show speed from his inside post under Jose Lezcano, Lexitonian led early with an opening quarter-mile in 22.04secs, chased by Strike Power with Special Reserve joining the leaders in a three-wide to a half-mile in 44.45secs.
Narrowly in front of Lexitonian in the straight, as Strike Power began to fade, and Special Reserve opened up a half-length advantage.
But Lexitonian, a five-year-old by Speightstown, was the stronger of the two sprinters over the final sixth furlong, and he battled back to win by half-length in 1m09.38secs.
Whitmore, last year’s champion male sprinter and Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, rallied from sixth to finish third, a length and a quarter behind the runner-up.
The winner and popular eight-year-old Whitmore are both likely to head for the Forego Stakes.
“We’re looking at the Forego. I was very proud of how he came back out of the race. Obviously, we’ll pay attention to him the next week or so and see if he’s up for it, but that’s what we’re hoping for,” Ron Moquett said of Whitmore.
Saratoga held 36,840 fans at the races on Saturday with $31,772,948 was wagered on the card.
ONE of the best performance at the Spa so far this season came in Sunday’s Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes.
Steve Asmussen is chasing the sport’s all-time wins record and one of last year’s top two-year-olds, Jackie’s Warrior, added another win when he handled a rain-soaked track, gliding to an easy seven-and-a-quarter-length victory in the six-and-a-half-furlong contest.
Winner of the Grade 1 Runhappy Hopeful Stakes here in 2020, Jackie’s Warrior came into the Amsterdam after a runner-up finish behind Drain The Clock when favourite in the June 5th Woody Stephens Stakes over seven at Belmont Park.
This time Jackie’s Warrior broke smoothly for Joel Rosario and duelled for the lead with Drain The Clock through a quarter-mile in a fast 21.46secs.
The odds-on favourite pulled away on the turn through a half-mile in a blazing 43.85secs and the race was over. “He’s fast and then he just keeps going,” Rosario said.
“I wouldn’t be scared of running him against anyone at one turn,” Asmussen said about the son of Maclean’s Music.
“He’s a very special horse and he’s showed that on many occasions. We’ve had some good ones and he’s one of them. We got caught being overconfident last time.”