Trainer Charlie Appleby holds a strong hand in multiple top-flight winner Nations Pride and recent Group 2 winner El Cordobes for Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer at Saratoga.
The Sword Dancer is a win and you're in race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf in November at Del Mar. Godolphin and Appleby have captured three of the last four runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Rebel’s Romance (2022, 2024) and Yibir (2021).
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Nations Pride and El Cordobes arrived at Saratoga on July 31 and have settled in well according to Appleby’s traveling assistant Chris Connett, clearing quarantine Saturday and shifting over to Godolphin’s Greentree facility adjacent to the Spa backstretch. On Wednesday, the pair put a little air into their lungs with a stronger effort over the Saratoga main track.
“On Wednesday, they backed up to the wire, had a nice, easy canter around and then from the quarter-pole they joined up and quickened up together in hand. It just blows the cobwebs out before the weekend,” Connett said. “They've settled in very well. Nations Pride is a bit of an old pro coming over here. It's slightly new for El Cordobes: he's been to Dubai once last winter, but he's taken it very well. We're very happy with them both.”
Six-time Great Britain champion jockey-turned-top Godolphin morning stable rider Kieren Fallon traveled over and has accompanied Nations Pride through his daily morning routine while Jamie Linwood is the regular work partner of the up-and-coming El Cordobes.
On Saturday, William Buick will have the call on Nations Pride, while Flavien Prat will pilot El Cordobes as they look to topple defending race winner Far Bridge, who traveled gate-to-wire last year to best Godolphin’s Appleby-trained duo of Measured Time and Silver Knott.
Nations Pride, an 11-time winner from 22 starts for purse earnings in excess of $3.6 million, has enjoyed top-flight success in the 2022 Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1), the 2023 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis (G1) at Munchen, the 2023 Canadian International (G1) at Woodbine and last year’s Arlington Million (G1) at Colonial Downs.
The globetrotting bay will stretch out significantly in distance with his two most recent efforts coming at nine furlongs at Meydan, including a win in the Group 2 Singspiel (G2) in March. He was a non-factor last out in the Dubai Turf (G1) on April 5.
“He's shown his versatility, including winning the Arlington Million last year at a mile and a quarter,” Connett said. “He's got speed but stretching him out gives him time to ease into his races more than being pressured into them early.”
Nations Pride was a romping winner of the 2022 Grade 3 Jockey Club Derby Invitational at Belmont at the Big A traveling 12 furlongs.
El Cordobes, a 4-year-old Frankel bay, boasts a consistent 9: 3-2-2 ledger and arrives from a career-best effort, besting a compact field of four in the 1 1/2-mile Princess of Wales’s (G2) on July 10 at Newmarket. Buick has guided El Cordobes through his last five outings, including a 1 1/2-mile handicap score on May 3 at Newmarket, a three-length third in the 1 1/2-mile Aston Park (G3) on May 17 at Newbury and a distant third in the 1 3/4-mile Race to the Ebor Grand Cup in June at York.
“He's an unexposed type,” Connett said. “The mile and three quarters might have been a step too far for him that run at York, hence he came back to a mile and a half next time. He's a very strong finishing mile and a half horse.”
Appleby will look to build on previous Grade 1 success in New York with Althiqa (2021 Just a Game and 2021 Diana), Nations Pride (2022 Saratoga Derby), Cinderella’s Dream (2024 Belmont Oaks) and Measured Time (2024 Manhattan), as well as 12 additional graded scores.
Connett, who has traveled over many of those runners, said both horses are in good order as they trained Friday morning over the Spa main track.
“This morning we had a walk and a trot out on the private track at Greentree and then came down to the main track and they did one lap of the main track at a canter,” Connett said.
The Sword Dancer is slated as Race 10 on Saturday’s 12-race card, which co-features the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G2) in race 9. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
