The Return of Quality

Brilliant but balky, frighteningly fast but fearful, supremely talented but tempestuous. Quality Road is an enigma wrapped in a stunningly beautiful and powerful thoroughbred racehorse.  Gulfstream Park’s Sunday feature, The Hal’s Hope, will mark Quality Road’s first race since his second place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. We all saw his entry into the Breeders’ Cup Classic go terribly wrong. It was a scary sight to see one of the most powerful horses in the nation, do every thing in his power not to load into the Santa Anita starting gate. Blindfolding him only pushed things closer to disaster. If not for the courageous effort of Junior Hungerford, one of the starters loading the BC horses, things could have gone far worse for this horse of quality. How good is Quality Road? Possibly the most talented male horse in America. His wins in the Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby and Amsterdam were brilliant. Quality Road broke track records with ease. He is that rare horse with speed to burn and lungs that should carry him through classic distances. Quality Road’s losses at ten furlongs to Summer Bird were on messy tracks and to a horse with more bottom than him. The results of the Travers and the Jockey Club may not be the same results we see this year, if he is a happy horse. Will he enter the Gulfstream Park starting gate without freaking out? No one knows for sure, but there is good reason to be very hopeful. Trainer Todd Pletcher and former starter Bob Duncan have given him time and tender care in re-educating Quality Road in the starting gate. Several weeks ago, when I was concerned with Quality Road coming back too soon in November’s Cigar Mile, I wrote: “If he were my horse, I would give him some time. Time to get over the traumatic experience at Santa Anita and time to feel good again. Clearly he was mentally effected by the incident, as he refused to get on the plane to head back to New York. His connections instead, had to van him all the way across the country. Running back so quickly in the Cigar Mile is not allowing for the horse to ease his psyche. Sure, the Cigar Mile is a big race and one that would seem to set up quite well for the talented Quality Road, but 2010 is full of big races, starting at Gulfstream Park, a track that he loves. I say give this horse a little rest, relaxation and rehabilitation, so that he can return next year at his best and claim his position as one of the top horses in America.” Did his connections listen to Zipse at the Track??? No, probably they came to this decision all on their own, but I am certainly glad that the decision to give him some time and not rush him back to the races was made. Gulfstream was a friendly place for him last Winter, full of good memories. There will be no huge crowd and helicopters flying over head on Sunday. All systems are on go. I am a fan of horses in general, but I also have special interest in those who have the rare talent to be truly great. Therefore I will root strongly for Quality Road this Sunday. I hope that his fear of the starting gate has been suppressed enough that he will run. I hope that his frightening memory has been replaced enough with positive experiences that he will be happy to run. A couple of big ifs, but if they do happen, we could see something special. A physically and mentally fit Quality Road, has all the potential in the world, let’s see what he can do. Quality Road Schooling - Photo by Lynne Veitch