Sunday, September 5 2010

QUALITY ROAD returned to the winner’s circle yesterday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course with an emphatic 4 ¾ length victory over Mythical Power in the 57th running of the US$750,000 Woodward, his third Grade 1 win of the year.

Rebounding from his narrow loss to Blame at Saratoga four weeks ago, the four-year-old Elusive Quality colt broke sharply and was quickly manoeuvered to the outside of longshot Arcodoro, who set opening fractions of 24.06 and 47.76.

With three furlongs to go, jockey John Velazquez sent Quality Road up into the lead, and he was never threatened as he rolled through the stretch under mild encouragement to hit the wire in 1:50.00 for the 1 1/8 miles.

“He was much, much better than last time,” said Velazquez of Quality Road, who this year won the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope, the Grade 1 Donn Handicap and the Grade 1 Met Mile before being stunned by Blame at the wire in the Grade 1 Whitney.

“In the Whitney, I was struggling to get him going. Today, he was much more willing, and much more on the bridle.”

The Woodward victory was the fourth of the day for Velazquez, who heads into the final two days of the meet with a 55-52 advantage over Javier Castellano in the jockey standings.

Earlier in the card, Velazquez and Pletcher teamed up to win race two, a maiden special weight, with Crea's Law . In race five, also a maiden event, Velazquez guided Souper Spectacular, half-brother to the undefeated Zenyatta, to victory for trainer Seth Benzel.

The rider also picked up an overnight stakes win in race seven, the Addison Mallery, aboard CS Silk for trainer Dale Romans.