Pletcher Hoping On Late Bloomers

About two weeks ago Todd Pletcher looked over his roster of 2-year-olds, what they had accomplished and whether any were serious Kentucky Derby candidates and came to the following conclusion: “I'm in serious trouble.”

By Pletcher standards, 2015 had been a major disappointment when it came to how his 2-year-old colts had performed on the racetrack. Normally, he unveils a slew of talented, well-bred youngsters, collects a number of stakes wins with them and has every reason to look forward to their coming 3-year-old campaigns. But in 2015, Pletcher has won just one graded stakes race with a 2-year-old male, Uncle Vinny (Uncle Mo). He won the GIII Sanford at Saratoga. Uncle Vinny would subsequently be sidelined with an injury and Pletcher was empty-handed come Breeders' Cup time. He did not have an entrant in the

GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

But Pletcher's fortunes have turned within the last two weeks and he now has at least a glimmer of hope when it comes to the 2016 Classics. On Dec. 5 at Gulfstream, he won a six-furlong maiden race with Zulu (Bernardini) and a mile-and-a-sixteenth maiden with Stradivari (Medaglia d'Oro). The latter was particularly impressive, winning by 11 3/4 lengths in what was his second lifetime start. A week later, he won another Gulfstream mile-and-a-sixteenth maiden with Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday).

“We've been impressed by the horses that we have run in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “We were really impressed by Stradivari and I thought Neolithic and Zulu also ran very well. I don't know if any of them had Verrazano-type performances, where they showed they could go immediately from that start into a graded stakes. But they were encouraging efforts.”

Pletcher said he has at least two more soon-to-be 3-year-olds that could make it onto the road to the Kentucky Derby.

“We have a maiden in Saturday named Mo Power (Uncle Mo) and he is training well,” he said. “This will be his first start and we expect him to run well. Again, I can't tell you it's going to be a Verazzano-type performance, but we do expect him to run well. We have another colt running on the 26th named Rally Cry (Uncle Mo). He was highly touted first out and was a little disappointing, running third at Aqueduct in a sprint. He acts like a horse that wants to stretch out and I have been pleased with way he's trained since he's gotten to Palm Beach Downs. So, hopefully, he'll do like Neolithic and Stradivari and show some improvement now that he's down here.”

Uncle Vinny was sidelined with a chip in an ankle and won't be back in time for the Derby. Pletcher's Saratoga Mischief (Into Mischief) finished second in the GII Saratoga Special and has not started since. Pletcher said the colt is back in training and should be ready to start some time in February.

“In the past couple of weeks since Gulfstream opened we've had three colts win and will hopefully have another maiden winner or two to follow,” he said. “We might not find ourselves in any of the first round of the Derby preps, but I think I can be optimistic about being represented in the second round. It's been what I would describe as a down year with our 2-year-old colts, but I'm starting to feel more optimistic.”

What went wrong? There's no one answer, but it clear that somehow Pletcher wound up with a group of 2-year-olds that isn't nearly as talented as what he's used to having.

“As a group, our 2-year-old colts have been a little slow to come around, and we knew back in June and July that that was going to be the case,” he said. “We simply didn't have the horses that were ready to run in the big 2-year-old races at that time. In June I told people that I was not seeing any real superstar colts at that moment. We had a couple of New York-breds that were pretty good and won some stakes with them, but didn't have the type of colts we normally see.

“When that happens you have to look back and examine what kind of horses we were getting in. We get them from the sales and we get homebreds. Maybe they just weren't precocious sorts. We were unsuccessful bidding on a lot of horses at the 2-year-old sales, particularly OBS March. Mike Repole went in with

the intention of buying quite a few horses and we just kept getting outbid. When you miss out on a lot of opportunities like that you might be missing out on one really good horse and one really good horse can make a big difference.”

At least now he has something to look forward to as the racing season at the Gulfstream championship meet moves along. But what if his recent maiden winners don't pan out?

“We'll keep fighting,” he said. “That's all you can do.”