Stalwarts Await Channel Cat, Ya Primo in Sword Dancer

While grade 1 winners like Channel Maker and Sadler's Joy have been regulars in top-level turf races in New York and beyond the past few seasons, a pair of talented 4-year-olds looking for their own North American grade 1 success await in the $850,000 Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) Aug. 24 at Saratoga Race Course.

Included in the expected field of nine older horses for the 1 1/2-mile test on the inner turf are the top two finishers from the Bowling Green Stakes (G2T): frontrunning winner Channel Cat and Ya Primo, a two-time group 1 winner in his native Chile who settled for second in his North American debut.

Though Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Channel Maker finished fourth in the Bowling Green as the 5-2 favorite, the 5-year-old son of English Channel  certainly is capable of building on that effort. Last year he won the Bowling Green in a dead heat with Glorious Empire before running second to that rival in the Sword Dancer.

Woodslane Farm homebred Sadler's Joy hasn't won since the Mac Diarmida Stakes (G2T) at Gulfstream Park in March 2018, but the 6-year-old son of Kitten's Joy  has earned four grade 1 placings since. Sadler's Joy finished sixth in last year's Sword Dancer but won the race in 2017, passing six horses in the stretch.

While the veterans offer consistent performance at the graded level, Calumet Farm homebred Channel Cat might have learned a new trick in the Bowling Green. Sent to the lead early for the first time in his 16-race career by jockey Luis Saez, the son of English Channel rated well and delivered an especially effective run in the far turn of the 1 3/8-mile test. He's trained by Todd Pletcher, who also conditioned his turf-champion sire.

"I think he's consistent as with a lot of English Channels. He had some success at 2 and 3, but he really improved at 4, and I think he will continue to improve," Pletcher said. "I think for the most part (offspring of English Channel) tend to peak in their 5-year-old year in a lot of cases. And this is a horse we've always liked. I kind of called him as a 2-year-old our 'sleeper' horse that would hopefully develop into a top-class older horse, and he's right on the verge of that."

Pletcher will also send out Team Valor International's Pillar Mountain, a 4-year-old son of Kodiac who will make his stakes debut off a pair of wins at the allowance level in New York.

"He's a horse that's continued to develop and we think has earned his chance to see what he can do at this level," Pletcher said. "It's certainly a jump up, but he's been training well and we think will be able to handle any kind of turf to see what he can do."

In his second North American start, Madaket Stables, Don Alberto Stable, and Wonder Stables' Ya Primo, a 4-year-old Mastercraftsman colt, figures to improve. Trainer Chad Brown is seeing positive signs.

"He ran super in that race and just came up a little bit short at the end," Brown said. "He's been training particularly well since, and we're looking forward to running in the Sword Dancer. It was always our plan."

Brown will also send out Klaravich Stables' Proven Reserves, who will be making both his stakes and grass debuts in the Sword Dancer, and Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Annals of Time, who will start in a stakes for the first time since winning the 2016 Hollywood Derby (G1T) on the turf at Del Mar. After being sidelined for nine months because of a soft tissue injury, the 6-year-old son of Temple City  has raced three times, most recently winning impressively July 24 at the allowance level at Saratoga.

"A mile and a half will be a test for him," Brown said. "He's never run in a three-turn race before. I'd prefer there to be some pace in the race, but he has a really good turn of foot and he's going to need to."

The Sword Dancer is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, carrying "Win and You're In" status to the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1).

Entries: Sword Dancer S. (G1T)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 24, 2019, Race 10

• Grade I
• 1 1/2m
• Inner turf
• $850,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 4:49 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Proven Reserves (KY)	Manuel Franco	118	Chad C. Brown	30/1
2	2Tiz Morning (KY)	Dylan Davis	118	Edmund D. Davis	50/1
3	3Noble Thought (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Michael J. Maker	30/1
4	4Channel Cat (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1
5	5Pillar Mountain (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	118	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1
6	6Ya Primo (CHI)	Jose L. Ortiz	124	Chad C. Brown	7/2
7	7Annals of Time (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Chad C. Brown	5/2
8	8Channel Maker (ON)	Joel Rosario	124	William I. Mott	3/1
9	9Sadler's Joy (KY)	Jose Lezcano	120	Thomas Albertrani	9/2