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Essential Quality Duels Midnight Bourbon Down Stretch To Win Travers

After a half-length victory in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, Essential Quality came into the Grade 1 Travers Stakes as the overwhelming favorite and demonstrated once again why as he dueled with a game Midnight Bourbon down the Saratoga stretch to win the Midsummer Derby by a neck. The Godolphin gray tracked Midnight Bourbon, who stumbled and unseated Paco Lopez in the Grade 1 Haskell in his last start, throughout the 1 1/4-mile Travers, hooked up with him at the top of the stretch, and refused to quit, adding another G1 stakes to his rich resume.

At the break, Ricardo Santana, Jr. hustled Midnight Bourbon to the front, with Luis Saez and Essential Quality on his heels into the first turn. After a first quarter in :24.18, Midnight Bourbon had a comfortable lead, which gave Santana a chance to give his colt a breather on the backstretch, running the half-mile in :48.96 and the three-quarters in 1:14.49. By the time the field of seven entered the far turn, horses were closing on Midnight Bourbon, Essential Quality catching him as they approached the last part of the race. From the top of the stretch on, it was a duel between the two front runners, the rest of the field unable to catch them.

Down the Saratoga stretch, Midnight Bourbon and Essential Quality ran head to head, neither able to gain an advantage on the other until the last sixteenth of a mile, Essential Quality gaining inch by inch as they closed in on the wire. At the finish, it was the Belmont Stakes winner by a neck over Midnight Bourbon, with Miles D third.

The final time for the 1 1/4-mile G1 Travers Stakes was 2:01.96.

Bred and owned by Godolphin, Essential Quality is a 3-year-old colt by Tapit out of the Elusive Quality mare Delightful Quality. The Brad Cox trainee and 2-year-old champion colt has five wins in six starts in 2021, his only loss coming in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, where he finished fourth, for a lifetime record of eight wins in nine starts.

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Essential Quality Fights Past Midnight Bourbon in Runhappy Travers

Champion Essential Quality (Tapit) came into Saturday's GI Runhappy Travers S. as the heavy favorite with three other Grade I victories to his credit, in addition to his Eclipse Award. Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), on the other hand, entered with a point to prove as he never had a chance to show his stuff last time in Monmouth's GI Haskell Invitational S. July 17, after clipping heels and almost going down in the stretch. Essential Quality got the better of his rival at Saratoga Saturday, but not before Midnight Bourbon gave him a run for his money in a nail-biting stretch drive.

Hammered down to 2-5 favoritism, Essential Quality bobbled a step exiting the two-hole while Midnight Bourbon got away cleanly from the inside stall. The 5-1 shot dictated terms through a :24.18 first quarter with the chalk leading the rest of the field a few lengths back in second. Midnight Bourbon still had things his own way on the front end through a half in :48.96, but Essential Quality and the others closed the gap as three-quarters went in 1:14.49. Curlin S. runner-up Miles D (Curlin) ranged up alongside Essential Quality approaching the far turn, but the Eclipse winner quickly dismissed him and moved up to challenge the pacesetter. Essential Quality and Midnight Bourbon exited the bend in unison and battled stride-for-stride down the lane, pulling well clear of the rest of their rivals. Midnight Bourbon battled on gamely at the fence, forcing Essential Quality to summon all of his class to forge clear in the final strides for a neck success. It was five lengths back to Miles D in third.

“We were hoping that he wouldn't lose as much ground and have more of a ground-saving trip as opposed to the Jim Dandy,” said winning trainer Brad Cox. “Luis [Saez] did a good job of recognizing that there wouldn't be a whole lot of pace. He asked him to run out of there and established good position and didn't let Midnight Bourbon get too far away up the backside. I was a little worried up the backside once he cleared up with softer fractions. He's a tremendous horse. He's a champion and he ran like one today.”

The conditioner added, “He's danced a lot of dances and shown up. His lone defeat was the Kentucky Derby, where we felt he was right there in the mix. He's done nothing wrong. We're proud of what he's accomplished this year and he's a very good horse with a fantastic resume.”

“This is a great accomplishment for the whole Godolphin team to be a part of this magical ride,” said Godolphin's Jimmy Bell. “When you go to the Belmont at the mile and a half, to a mile and an eighth [in the Jim Dandy] to a mile and a quarter, hats off to the way they brought him into this race in good form. Luis Saez might be the hottest jockey in the country. We're just very fortunate and blessed to be a part of this team.”

“Right from [the gate] I was on him [Midnight Bourbon] because I knew he was the speed horse, and that horse, when he takes the lead, he keeps going,” said Saez, who piloted champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) to victory in the 2013 Travers. “So, I got on him right from there and put him right there in the beginning. He seemed so perfect. That was the plan, but I always feel like I have so much horse that I can make my move and get going. He gets past the horse and he can stay there, he don't waste energy. It's amazing, that's my second Travers and I'm so thankful to be here and be a part of it in this amazing race.”

As for Midnight Bourbon, jockey Ricardo Santana said, “I got a perfect trip. I couldn't ask for a better trip. The winner is way too good. I was walking on the lead and he was going pretty well, too. We slowed it down a little more and went [six furlongs] in 1:14 and I was very happy with him, but the winner was way too good.”

Tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' after his debut win at Churchill last September, Essential Quality followed suit with a win in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland a month later and capped an Eclipse-winning season with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at that oval in November. Opening his sophomore account with a dominant score in a sloppy edition of Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Feb. 27, the homebred captured the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. back in Lexington Apr. 3. Suffering his first defeat when fourth as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby May 1, he skipped the GI Preakness S. in favor of the June 5 GI Belmont S. and took that contest by 1 1/4 lengths. Essential Quality prepped for the Midsummer Derby with a half-length defeat of Keepmeinmind (Laoban) in the local GII Jim Dandy S. July 31.

Pedigree Notes:
Essential Quality is one of 27 Grade I scorers for record-setting sire Tapit and one of 91 graded stakes winners by the Gainesway stalwart. The champion colt is one of 10 Grade I winners and 61 graded victors out of a daughter of the late Darley stallion Elusive Quality. Godolphin went to $3-million to acquire Essential Quality's second dam, the unraced Contrive (Storm Cat), just after her daughter Folklore (Tiznow) completed her championship juvenile season with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She was in foal to Pleasantly Perfect at the time of that purchase. Delightful Quality went on to be Grade III-placed for Sheikh Mohammed's operation and Essential Quality is her only winner from two foals to race. Her second foal, the now-5-year-old mare Indelible (Tiznow), summoned $1.6 million from Nobutaka Tada at last term's Fasig-Tipton November sale. Delightful Quality's most recent produce is an unraced juvenile filly named Famed (Uncle Mo). She was barren when bred to Uncle Mo for 2020 and barren yet again when bred to his son Nyquist for 2021. The 12-year-old mare visited Tapit this spring. Essential Quality hails from the family of two-time Japanese champion Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Travers Day Handle & Attendance…

The 13-race Runhappy Travers Day card generated all-sources handle totaling $51,381,515. A paid crowd of 44,507 witnessed Essential Quality's (Tapit) victory in the feature event. On-track handle was $9,406,526. NYRA was honored to welcome New York Governor Kathy Hochul to Saratoga Saturday, where she presented the Man o' War Cup to the connections of Essential Quality.

Saturday, Saratoga
RUNHAPPY TRAVERS S.-GI, $1,225,000, Saratoga, 8-28, 3yo, 1 1/4m, 2:01.96, ft.
1–ESSENTIAL QUALITY, 126, c, 3, by Tapit
1st Dam: Delightful Quality (GSP, $253,900), by Elusive Quality
2nd Dam: Contrive, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Jeano, by Fappiano
'TDN Rising Star' O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Luis Saez. $670,000. Lifetime Record: 9-8-0-0, $4,215,144.
Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
pedigree.
2–Midnight Bourbon, 126, c, 3, Tiznow–Catch the Moon, by
Malibu Moon. ($525,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings
LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $230,000.
3–Miles D, 126, c, 3, Curlin–Sound the Trumpets, by
Bernardini. ($470,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant &
Robert V. LaPenta; B-River Bend Farm (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown. $125,000.
Margins: NK, 5, NK. Odds: 0.45, 5.80, 18.70.
Also Ran: Keepmeinmind, King Fury, Masqueparade, Dynamic One.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Trainer Brad Cox Poised To Join Elite Company With Travers Favorite Essential Quality

History abounds at Saratoga Race Course, especially when it comes to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers. The country's oldest stakes race for 3-year-olds will have its 152nd edition on Saturday in headlining a stacked card of seven graded stakes and six Grade 1 contests.

The Runhappy Travers – for sophomores contesting the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles, is slated as Race 12 on the packed 13-race card. First post is set for 11:35 a.m.

For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7 1/2 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1.

Trainer Brad Cox can join an elite group Saturday if his entrant, 4-5 morning-line favorite Essential Quality, can win the Runhappy Travers. Should Essential Quality earn a winner's circle trip tomorrow, Cox would become just the eighth trainer overall to win the Grade 1 Whitney and Travers in the same year – and just the third to do so with two different horses after Knicks Go won the Whitney by 4 1/2 lengths on Aug. 7.

The last trainer to pull off the double of the two most prestigious races of the Saratoga summer meet was Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who saddled fellow Hall of Famer Easy Goer to the sweep in 1989.

Prior to 1954, the Whitney was run at 1 1/4 miles as a weight-for-age event, and from 1957-69 it was restricted to 4-year-olds and up. Beginning in 1955 it was run at its current distance of 1 1/8 miles. Since 2020, when Improbable won, the Whitney has been restricted to 4-year-olds and up.

Other conditioners to notch both wins in the same year were MacKenzie Miller [Java Gold in 1987], John Veitch [Alydar in 1978], J. Elliott Burch [Key to the Mint, 1972] and Bert Mulholland [Eight Thirty, 1939].

Cox can join an even rarer group of trainers to win both races with two different horses.

James G. Rowe, Jr. saddled St. Brideaux to the Whitney win in 1931 and Twenty Grand to a Travers score that summer, while John M. Gaver, Sr. conditioned Swing and Sway to Whitney glory and Shut Out to Travers success in 1942.

Cox will be looking to accomplish a feat last reached 79 years ago when Essential Quality breaks from post 2 in the seven-horse field in Race 12 at 6:12 p.m. Eastern.

“When you can win Grade 1s at Saratoga, whether it's the Whitney or Travers, it's always huge to win any of them on the NYRA circuit, period,” Cox said. “To win the Travers and Whitney in the same year; we've already had a great meet to begin with, but if we can cap it off with this, it would be huge.

“It's the biggest 3-year-old race outside of the Triple Crown races, so it would be right up there with winning the Belmont, for sure.”

Essential Quality has already made an indelible mark on Cox's career, providing him his first American Classic victory with that 1 1/4-length score in the Belmont Stakes on June 5. The Godolphin homebred has won seven of his eight career starts with six graded stakes victories, including a 3-for-3 effort last year en route to winning the Eclipse Award as Champion 2-Year-Old following wins in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, both at Keeneland.

That run helped Cox earn his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer, and the Tapit colt continued his dominance to begin his sophomore campaign, winning the Grade 3 Southwest and the Grade 2 Blue Grass before running a competitive fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in his lone career defeat on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Undeterred, Essential Quality showed he could handle Belmont's famed 12-furlong distance, overcoming Hot Rod Charlie's blistering fractions to collar his rival and win the Belmont Stakes, earning a personal-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure. Getting his first taste of the Saratoga main track, Essential Quality registered a half-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 31 in preparation for the Runhappy Travers.

“I think he's bigger, there's more of him. He's stronger than he was leading up to the Belmont,” Cox said about Essential Quality's physical maturation. “It comes with age. He's still a young horse and still developing. I've continued to see signs of progression and that's why he's 4-5.”

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Champ Tops ‘Quality’ Travers Field

Eclipse winner Essential Quality (Tapit) headlines a strong field of seven in Saratoga's prestigious GI Runhappy Travers S. Saturday evening. Should he succeed he would be the second colt in as many as years to complete the GI Belmont S./Travers double and the first juvenile champion to take the Midsummer Derby since Street Sense won the 2007 renewal.

Opening his sophomore account with wins in the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 27 and GII Toyota Bluegrass S. Apr. 3, the Godolphin homebred was fourth as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby May 1. Skipping the GI Preakness S., the gray captured the June 5 Belmont and defeated Keepmeinmind (Laoban) by a half-length in the Spa's GII Jim Dandy S. July 31 with GIII Ohio Derby victor Masqueparade (Upstart) in third.

“I feel like he's as good as he's ever been,” trainer Brad Cox said. “If we run our race, we'll be tough. There's six other good colts in there and we still have to play our game. If we do, I think we'll be a big factor.”

The ultra-consistent Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) looks to rebound after an unlucky incident in Monmouth's GI Haskell Invitational S. last out July 17. The bay clipped heels and almost went down, losing rider Paco Lopez in the process, when Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) came over on him in the stretch. Hot Rod Charlie crossed the line first, but was disqualified for that incident and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was promoted to first. Kicking off 2021 with a win in the GIII Lecomte S., Midnight Bourbon was third to Mandaloun in the GII Risen Star S. Feb. 13 and was second to Hot Rod Charlie in the GII Louisiana Derby next out Mar. 20. Rallying for sixth in the Run for the Roses, the $525,000 KEESEP buy was second in the Preakness prior to his Haskell incident.

“He's a big horse and time should benefit him a bunch as he gets bigger and stronger and more mature,” said David Fiske, bloodstock advisor to Winchell Thoroughbreds. “He'll have to break well but I should expect to see him on or near the lead.”

Missing by a head in the GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 3, Dynamic One (Union Rags) could only manage 18th on the First Saturday in May. The $725,000 KEESEP purchase seems to be coming around at just the right time, rallying to a decisive score over the re-opposing Miles D (Curlin) in the restricted Curlin S. going nine panels at this oval July 30. The chestnut represents new Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who saddled his last Travers winner 10 years ago in Stay Thirsty.

Rounding out the field is blue-blooded King Fury (Curlin), who started his sophomore season on a winning note in a sloppy renewal of Keeneland's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. Apr. 10. A close second in the Ohio Derby, the $925,000 FTSAUG acquisition was forced to miss the Jim Dandy due to his barn's quarantine. Left with limited options, trainer Ken McPeek ran his pupil on grass in the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational and he showed the turf was not for him, finishing 10th in that Aug. 7 event.

“He came out of it fine. He just got hung wide on the second turn,” McPeek said. “I really feel like he needed a run. It was going to be a couple of months between races otherwise. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to run in the Jim Dandy, but he will be prepared for this.”

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