Quality Road schools ‘perfectly’ at Big A

Quality Road could go for the Cigar (Z. Laskowski/EquiSport Photos)

QUALITY ROAD (Elusive Quality) passed his latest schooling test with flying
colors Saturday morning at Aqueduct, proceeding professionally through a
simulated race day scenario including both paddock and gate schooling.

The three-year-old Edward Evans homebred, scratched from the Breeders’ Cup
Classic (G1) at Santa Anita on November 7 after a meltdown at the gate, shipped
from trainer Todd Pletcher’s Belmont Park barn at approximately 6 a.m. (EST)
Saturday and settled into Aqueduct’s receiving barn for several hours.

Shortly before 11 a.m., Quality Road was led to the Aqueduct paddock in
company with stablemates Nite Light (Thunder Gulch) and Storm Play (Smart
Strike), both of whom are also owned by Evans and trained by Pletcher.

The colt stood quietly in the saddling enclosure while being tacked up and,
after regular jockey John Velazquez was given a leg up by Pletcher, made several
circuits of the paddock before being handed off to a NYRA lead pony and taken to
the track for a simulated pre-race warm-up with the two other horses. The group
worked its way toward the gate, which was positioned at the back of the mile
chute on Aqueduct’s main track.

As he has done all week at Belmont under the supervision of former NYRA
starter Bob Duncan, Quality Road loaded into the gate about 10 times without
incident, both with and without Velazquez aboard, and led by both Duncan and
assistant NYRA starter Guido Rouse. The colt stood in the gate for varying
lengths of time before being backed out, and never balked or fussed.