Sadler's Joy to make fourth appearance in Sword Dancer

Woodslane Farm homebred Sadler's Joy, who captured the 2017 renewal of the Sword Dancer and was sixth in 2018 and second a year ago, will make his fourth appearance in the 12-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 event on Saturday at Saratoga.

Trained by Tom Albertrani, the 7-year-old Kitten's Joy chestnut, out of the unraced Dynaformer mare Dynaire, has banked more than $2.5 million in a 31-race career and will look to capture his second Sword Dancer along with a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland Race Course.

"He's been one of the most consistent turf horses going these longer distances," said Albertrani. "He still continues to do well. He's still strong and he's pretty bright. You'd never tell looking at him. He doesn't show his age.

"These horses that run a route of ground, they don't do much running until the very end," added Albertrani. "So I think it's a lot kinder on a horse like him, who gallops around there and runs a half mile at the end."

Sadler's Joy has demonstrated remarkable consistency from his fourth-out maiden win on Aug. 22, 2016 at the Spa through to his most recent effort when crossing the wire first in the Bowling Green (G2) on Aug. 1, only to be disqualified and placed fourth for impeding Sword Dancer-rivals Cross Border and Channel Maker in the stretch run.

The horse recorded his first triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure in January 2017 when finishing second, by a head to Taghleeb, in the W. L. McKnight (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Though his next 25 starts, the popular horse has recorded 18 additional triple-digit Beyers while never dipping below a 94, which came over soft going when third in the 2018 Turf Classic Invitational (G1) at Belmont.

"Our goal is for him to eventually stand stud here in the states," said Albertrani. "He's run well in two Sword Dancers. He's always right there, we just need him to be a little more forward in some of these big ones."

With a record of 31: 7-4-10, the late-running horse is a constant in-the-money threat.

"He always keeps you on the edge of your chair," said Albertrani. "With his running style, you hope he has a good trip but he tends to lose a lot of ground when he makes that big move off the far turn.

"We always get a little frustrated when we do the math and look at the Trakus data after the race and he's run the longest of any horse in the race and the fastest last quarter most of the time," added Albertrani with a laugh. "We get frustrated when we see he was beaten six feet for the race but ran forty feet further, but then we get a little chuckle after a while about it. You really couldn't ask for a more consistent horse to have in the barn, and it's a pleasure to train horses like that."

Sadler's Joy will exit the outside post 8 Saturday under regular Hall of Fame pilot Javier Castellano. Albertrani said he is hopeful the horse can save some ground ahead of his trademark close.

"He just has no early foot. Once Javier asks him for a run, he's looking for a way that he doesn't get stopped," said Albertrani. "He likes to be in the clear. If he could even find an opening inside we might end up in a position where we could get stopped, so his style is to find some daylight and get motoring at the end."

Albertrani said he is hopeful for a similar trip to the Bowling Green, but with a less dramatic ending.

"Last time it worked out well because it was a smaller field and he didn't have to go as wide at the end," said Albertrani. "In these turf races, you have to try and save as much ground as possible. Last race, he was absolutely the best horse in the race. He ran huge. It's unfortunate he came in a bit but it's just one of those things."

Mark T. Anderson's Beau Belle, a 5-year-old Giant's Causeway mare, is nominated to the $200,000 Glens Falls (G2), an 11-furlong turf marathon for older fillies and mares slated for Sept. 5.

In a case of racing being a small world, Beau Belle is out of the graded-stakes winning Royal Solo mare Binya, who produced Dynaire — the dam of Sadler's Joy.

"She's also related to Sadler's Joy. It's funny how she ended up in the same barn," said Albertrani.

The late bloomer graduated in her 15th start last July over a yielding Saratoga turf in a maiden special weight and followed up with an allowance score a month later again over yielding turf, both races at 1 3/16 miles.

Albertrani has stepped Beau Belle up significantly since that run of form, including a fifth in the Flower Bowl Invitational (G1) in October at Belmont, a third in the River Memories in July at Belmont and a last-out fourth in the Waya (G3) under rider Manny Franco on Aug. 8 at the Spa.

"She's heading to the Glens Falls and hopefully can make amends herself for her last race," said Albertrani. "I thought she'd be more on the front end in her last race and she got caught behind horses and got a little rank but still managed to run good. I thought her best chance would have been on an easy lead but Manny took her back and she was struggling and got a little too rank for her own good behind horses."

Beau Belle worked an easy half-mile in 53.04 Friday on the Saratoga main track.