The following appeared in The Paulick Report March 4th.
Woodslane Farm’s Sadler’s Joy went around the entire 12-horse field, bursting from last-to-first to win Saturday’s Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream Park. The 5-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy, ridden by Julien Leparoux for trainer Tom Albertrani, was off as the 9-5 favorite. In his first run since the Breeders’ Cup, Sadler’s Joy completed 1 3/8 miles over the firm turf in 2:12.93, besting frontrunning One Go All Go by a half-length on the wire.
“It was kind of the same old running style with him,” said Albertrani. “He makes you sweat it out for two minutes. He doesn’t really pick up his feet from the time they leave the gate. He finally picks up the pieces late. He has such a strong kick. He really turns the motor on.”
Sadler’s Joy, raised at Woodslane Farm in The Plains, VA, captured the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream. Photo courtesy of Coglianese Photography.
One Go All Go jumped well from the gate, streaking to the lead around the far turn for the first time. He tried to run off with Chris Landeros a bit heading into the stretch, but settled into a rhythm to set fractions of :24.06, :48.48, and 1:13.41 in the early going. One Go All Go was tracked by Mark It Off and Big Bend, with Oscar Nominated not far behind on the outside.
Approaching the wire for the first time, Oscar Nominated moved into a joint second with Mark It Off. Meanwhile, Sadler’s Joy and Leparoux were totally relaxed trailing the field, behind the leader by about 12 lengths. Though both Oscar Nominated and Big Bend challenged One Go All Go for the lead around the far turn, it was the ever-patient Leparoux who waited until the straight to give Sadler’s Joy his cue.
Sadler’s Joy burst into the clear and easily ran down the frontrunning One Go All Go to win by about a half-length on the wire. One Go All Go ran very well in second, while Nessy wound up third ahead of Oscar Nominated.
“The plan was to break a little bit better, but he just broke slow, so I just kind of bided my time with him and saved ground around the first two turns,” Leparoux explained. “He had his usual kick that he does in the end, so he ran a big race today. I was patient with him. I had so much horse at the end, I just wanted to make him finish and he did great.”
Bred in Kentucky by his owners, Sadler’s Joy is out of a daughter of Dynaformer. The Mac Diarmida was his first start of 2017, and improves his overall record to 6-1-3 from 15 starts for earnings of $1.3 million.