Todd Pletcher

Since its inaugural running in 1952, the GI Curlin Florida Derby has always been a stop along the journey for GI Kentucky Derby hopefuls--a chance for fine-tuning and finishing touches before horses take their best shots to Louisville. But this year, due to the postponement of the Run for the Roses and general uncertainty about what the rest of the racing calendar will look like as the world grapples with the coronavirus crisis, the Florida Derby is now a point of disembarkation for 3-year-olds, and it fittingly drew a stacked...

In the Feb. 29 GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream, two unbeaten fillies squared off while taking the majority of the public support, with the second choice narrow edging the favorite. Saturday, Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist) and Spice Is Nice (Curlin) will do battle again, alongside 10 other 3-year-old fillies, in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks at the Hallandale oval. Rallying to a 19-1 upset on debut for Sabana Farms and Juan Avila here last September, Tonalist's Shape was privately purchased and transferred to Saffie Joseph, for whom she captured a...

9th-GP, $52K, OC62k/N2X, 4yo/up, 6f, 5:07 p.m. Soldado (Verrazano), an impressive front-running optional claiming winner with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure in his Feb. 6 comebacker for Todd Pletcher, looks to put them back-to-back in Hallandale. The $80,000 FTKTUR yearling turned $8,000 EASMAY juvenile (How Steve Young Found the Bargain of the Year, by Bill Finley) debuted with a promising decision at this distance at Gulfstream last February over subsequent City of Laurel S. winner and GII Amsterdam S. third 'TDN Rising Star' Honest Mischief (Into Mischief), but disappointed in...

With racing already halted at several venues around the country, Gulfstream Park forges ahead with it's season anchoring marquee test for 3-year-olds, the GI Florida Derby. Highlighting the nine-furlong test is Grade I-winner Tiz the Law (Constitution), one of three runners by the young stallion in Saturday's race. The colt was last seen winning the Feb. 1 GIII Holy Bull S. at the Hallandale oval. "It really hasn't changed anything," said Sackatoga Operating Manager Jack Knowlton of the effect of the colt's training regime due to the Coronavirus pandemic. "We...

The next start for 'TDN Rising Star' Gouverneur Morris (Constitution) will hinge on a five-furlong breeze Saturday at Palm Beach Downs. "If he works well, [trainer] Todd Pletcher will decide whether to stay local and run in the [GI] Florida Derby or wait a week and fly him in for the [GII] Wood Memorial," Team Valor's Barry Irwin wrote in an email. "With opportunities and travel options expected to be limited, we have changed our outlook on racing him. We want to run him while there are still races available....

The New York Racing Association, Inc. will prohibit the use of Furosemide (Lasix) within 48 hours of racing for all 2-year-olds with the start of juvenile racing in April at Aqueduct Racetrack. The initiative will begin this year, with NYRA prohibiting Lasix in all 2-year-old races at all three NYRA tracks across Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Beginning in 2021, the same prohibition will extend to all horses participating in stakes races at NYRA tracks. Following the launch of this program in 2-year-old maiden special weight races in...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PHAROAH HALF TO MOR SPIRIT DEBUTS AT GP 1st-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 12:45p.m. Charles Fipke homebred IMA PHAROAH (American Pharoah) makes his career bow in this test for Todd Pletcher. Out of MSW & GSP Im a Dixie Girl (Dixie Union), the dark bay is a half to MGISW millionaire Mor Spirit (Eskendereya). Fipke purchased Im a Dixie Girl for $475,000 at the 2016 FTKNOV Sale with this colt in utero. TJCIS PPs

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-Gulfstream Park, $50K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:05 p.m. Todd Pletcher saddles first-time starter MAGGIE FITZ (Ghostzapper), a full-sister to Grade I winner Molly Morgan. A $335,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase in 2017, the bay filly was consigned by Woods Edge Farm at the 2018 Keeneland September sale where Stonestreet Stables signed the ticket at $1.025 million. She was entered and withdrawn from three juvenile sales last spring and debuts here in the Woods Edge Farm colors. TJCIS PPs 5th-Gulfstream Park, $50k, Msw, 3yo, f,...

The Shadwell Stable horses currently in training with Kiaran McLaughlin will be moved to Todd Pletcher, Shadwell Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols announced Thursday. The farm's statement came in response to Wednesday's announcement that McLaughlin was retiring from training at the end of this month to become the agent for jockey Luis Saez as of Apr. 1. Nichol's statement read as follows: "On behalf of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan and all of us at Shadwell, we would like to thank Kiaran McLaughlin and his staff for all of the...

Robert and Lawana Low's $1.05-million 'TDN Rising Star' Spice Is Nice (Curlin), an impressive 12-length victress on debut, will take her first big step toward the GI Kentucky Oaks as a probable favorite in Saturday's one-mile GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream. A daughter of GISW Dame Dorothy (Bernardini), the chestnut was bet strongly to be 11-10 at the off debuting over track and trip Jan. 12 and did not disappoint, squeezing through a narrow rail opening on the turn and rocketing away to a powerful graduation. She has drilled...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-GP, $44K, Msw, (S), 3yo, 1m, 3:03p.m. WinStar Farm and China Horse Club's $600,000 KEESEP purchase FREEDOM FORCE (American Pharoah) makes his career bow against fellow Florida-breds in this spot. The chestnut is a half-brother to MGISW millionaire Iotapa (Afleet Alex) and SW & GSP Saintly Joan (Northern Afleet). The Rodolphe Brisset trainee enters off a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 flat (1/8) at Palm Meadows Feb. 19. Todd Pletcher saddles another intriguing runner in this test in Mathis homebred Roman Empire (Empire Maker). Off...

3rd-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 2-22, 3yo, 7f, 1:24.21, gd. LIAM'S POINT (c, 3, Liam's Map--Kittery Point, by Include) entered his Saturday unveiling with about as much buzz as a firster can garner, and while he had to work harder than his 3-5 off odds suggested he might, he got the job done while giving the impression of one who should improve with experience and maturity. Scrubbed along by Irad Ortiz, Jr. as he struggled some to find his stride early, the bay settled into a three-deep stalking spot down the backside...