Veteran trainer Todd Pletcher has lot of horse racing wins under his belt, and is currently the 2007 earnings leader with nearly $8 million dollars in earnings.
One important victory, though, has eluded him: the Kentucky Derby. Despite coming close with two second-place finishes -- with Bluegrass Cat to Barbaro last year, and with Invisible Ink behind Monarchos in 2001 -- he has never finished the Road to the Roses with a horse in first place.
Steve Asmussen is the trainer of odds-on (and much hyped) favorite Curlin, and Carl Nafzger is the trainer for many handicappers' pick, Street Sense. So without the two top-ranked horses, what has Pletcher got going for him? A record tying five Kentucky Derby entries, all of them contenders.
Here's the horses he'll be saddling, in their post order, with their current odds:
(6) Cowtown Cat - 25/1
(13) Sam P. - 25/1
(14) Scat Daddy - 9/1
(16) Circular Quay - 9/1
(18) Any Given Saturday - 14/1
Circular Quay may be Pletcher's best hope. He's already posted an win at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3 Risen Star Stakes, and is heading into the Derby coming off a 2 1/4-length win in Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Pletcher is pleased with his last workout at Keeneland, where he breezed five-eights in 1:00:20, and at post position 16 Circular Quay may be able to break out around the turn. Not in his favor, at least historically, is the horse's eight-week layoff.
Scat Daddy is another good prospect for Pletcher. With an impressive record of 5-1-1, and has already proven himself against fellow Derby contenders Stromello and Nobiz Like Showbiz in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The horse breezed five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 with jockey Edgar Prado.
The fastest recent five furlong run for a Pletcher horse, though, was delivered by Any Given Saturday, who zipped 5/8 of a mile in 00:58 4/5. He finished third, however, behind Nobiz Like Shobiz and Sightseeing in the Grade 3 Wood Memorial Stakes on 7 April.
I'm sure Pletcher doesn't care much which horse takes the Derby on Saturday, though -- as long as it's one of his.
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