We've been down this Road before

Just when it appeared the plot for the Travers Stakes on Aug. 29 at Saratoga couldn't get any more delicious, along comes Quality Road to add more frosting to the cake. The race dubbed "The Mid-Summer Derby" could now include the three winners of this year's Triple Crown series -- Mine That Bird (Kentucky Derby), Rachel Alexandra (Preakness) and Summer Bird (Belmont) -- and Quality Road, the colt many thought was the best 3-year-old in the nation before he was sidelined with hoof problems.

Rachel Alexandra's connections have not announced yet when their brilliant filly will make her next start, but the Travers or the Woodward Stakes on Sept. 5 -- also at Saratoga -- would seem to make the most sense, and both offer much drama. A win in the Travers would make Rachel the first filly to sweep that prestigious stake and the Haskell. She'd be taking on older horses -- and males at that -- if she starts in the Woodward. No distaffer has ever won the Woodward.

Quality Road's victory in the Florida Derby on March 28 at Gulfstream Park, accomplished in track record time, prompted many observers to stamp him as the favorite for the Run for the Roses before he was sidelined. He returned to the races Monday the way he left them -- winning the $150,000 Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga by 2 1/4 lengths and running the 6 1/2 furlongs in a track record 1:13.53.

Making his first start for trainer Todd Pletcher after being transferred from the Jimmy Jerkens barn, Quality Road, a son of Elusive Quality who has won four of his five lifetime races, is expected to make his next start in the Travers.

"He didn't leave the gate very well," winning jockey John Velazquez said. "I had to put him in the race a little bit, and once I got him going and got him where I was happy with him, I didn't want to move too soon or wait too long."

Pletcher has no qualms about facing Rachel Alexandra again. He sent out Munnings for a third-place finish behind Rachel in the Haskell and knows a thing or two about beating the boys with fillies. He trained Rags to Riches, who beat Curlin in the 2007 Belmont Stakes.

"With a stable our size, wherever she runs, we're going to probably wind up facing her," Pletcher said. "We might as well do it with one of our best horses."