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Pletcher brings calvary of Derby challengers
By Ed McNamara
Special to ESPN.com
Nothing jangles a trainer's nerves like the final hour before the Kentucky Derby. The walk from the barn with the horses takes you past thousands of screaming fans, many of them in altered states. Then there's the mob scene in the paddock, where wired thoroughbreds and humans often become unhinged.
Around 5:10 on Saturday afternoon, nobody will be busier than Todd Pletcher.
|  | | Todd Pletcher, right, spent 6½ years working for D. Wayne Lukas, left. On Saturday, he goes it alone for the first time in the Kentucky Derby. |
Every trainer's Derby debut is unforgettable, no matter what happens. Pletcher's experience is in another dimension, because no
first-timer ever has sent out four horses for the Run for the Roses. Talk
about sending in the cavalry.
"I can't remember ever saddling three in a race," the 32-year-old native of Dallas said last Thursday at Churchill Downs after supervising morning gallops by his Gang of Four -- More Than Ready, Trippi, Graeme Hall and
Impeachment.
"It's the dream of every trainer to get to the Derby, and it's a challenge just to get one horse there. If a month ago you had predicted I'd have four, I'd have been surprised and delighted."
The only trainer ever to put more horses in a Derby is D. Wayne Lukas, who ran 1996 winner Grindstone, and four stablemates. A few months earlier, Pletcher ended a 6½-year stint as an assistant trainer under Lukas. He made a few trips to the Derby with Team Lukas, but being the head guy is a lot different.
"It has to help being down the road before with Wayne," Pletcher said. "Just seeing how he prepared all of his Derby horses, I don't think it could hurt any."
Pletcher's small herd includes an undefeated speedball (Trippi), two horses that can lead or stay close to the pace (More Than Ready, Graeme Hall), and a come-from-behind type (Impeachment). Each earned a trip to Louisville by running well in a 1 1/8-mile stakes in his final Derby prep.
Trippi went wire to wire in the Flamingo at Gulfstream Park. More Than Ready
finished second by a head in the Blue Grass at Keeneland. And Graeme Hall
and Impeachment came in first and third, respectively, in the Arkansas Derby
at Oaklawn Park.
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“ |
I'll
just try to prepare all four the best way I can. I
hope I'll be able to lead them all over there and
give each one the best chance to win. There are no favorites to be
played. ” |
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— Todd Pletcher |
This Derby is saturated with speed, and two or three of Pletcher's horses should be up front early. "Three are speed-oriented," he said, "but I don't see all three of them being out there fighting for the lead.
"Trippi is a true front-runner and More Than Ready has lots of speed, but he showed in the Blue Grass that sitting off the pace is not a problem. Graeme Hall won in Arkansas on the lead, but his other races prove he doesn't need it. Impeachment is definitely a one-run closer. He'll probably trail the field going into the first turn."
Pletcher has enjoyed remarkable success since going out on his own late in 1995. He wins going short and long, with fillies and colts, with 2-year-olds and older horses, on dirt and on turf. He had eight stakes victories in 1996; 11 in 1997, and in 1998 he sadled 24 winners -- including six with the brilliant filly Jersey Girl and the first two legs of the Canadian Triple
Crown with Archer's Bay.
In 1998 and 1999 his starters totaled more than $10 million, and this year he's fourth nationally with more than $2.2 million in
earnings, trailing only marquee names Bob Baffert, Lukas and Bobby Frankel.
The son of former trainer J.J. Pletcher has attracted clients who don't mind shelling out six figures for yearlings. Besides their fine
pedigrees, his Derby colts have strong human connections. South Carolina-based Dogwood Stable, which has bred and campaigned dozens of stakes winners, owns Trippi and Impeachment. Graeme Hall belongs to Eugene
Melnyk, a Canadian multimillionaire who lives in Barbados with his wife,
Laura. More Than Ready is the property of New Jersey resident James
Scatuorchio, who made his fortune on Wall Street.
Most handicappers doubt More Than Ready can handle 1 1/4 miles, and they question the class and stamina of Trippi, Graeme Hall and Impeachment.
"Ten furlongs is a question everybody has to answer," Pletcher said. "There's probably only a few of them out there that want to go a mile and a quarter."
He thinks More Than Ready could be one of them. The son of Southern Halo, who won his first five races as a 2-year-old, looks like Pletcher's best chance, but his odds at post time will be at least 15-1. The prices on
the others will be much longer. So although there are no great expectations
of winning.
Dealing with multiple owners puts Pletcher in a delicate position. Safety in numbers? Not necessarily, because he can't afford to
give one horse more attention than the rest.
"I'll just try to prepare all four the best way I can," he said. "I hope I'll be able to lead them all over there and give each one the best
chance to win.
"There are no favorites to be played."
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