Pletcher, Brown Regroup After Losing Derby Favorite

To attain the beginning gate within the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1), a wide selection of fine fortune is required.

You must have one of many quickest horses of its technology.

You want clear journeys to accrue sufficient qualifying factors..

And your 3-year-old should keep wholesome.

Veteran horsemen are well-educated on all of this, absolutely understanding how the chase for the Triple Crown can present each essentially the most exhilarating thrills and essentially the most sobering disappointments.

“It can be frustrating,” stated Hall of Fame coach Todd Pletcher, who has began a report 65 3-year-olds within the opening leg of the Triple Crown. “Sometimes you can hold a hot hand in January and February that can fall apart. Other times you feel you are behind schedule and everything falls into place at the right time. You just have to stay focused and do the best you can with all of them.”

Both Pletcher and fellow coach Chad Brown skilled each the highs and lows of life on the Triple Crown path this yr and every managed to search out the proverbial mild on the finish of an extended and twisting tunnel.

Pletcher and Brown each had the consensus Run for the Roses favourite at one level this yr, solely to have that star knocked off the path due to damage. Yet each of them might be well-represented May 2 at Churchill Downs.

Pletcher trains Spendthrift Farm’s undefeated Ted Noffey who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and was named the 2-year-old champion male. The sound of Into Mischief was the early Kentucky Derby favorite, but then was removed from training in late January because of bone bruising.

Yet, in a reflection of the stellar program for 3-year-olds he has built, Pletcher will still send out the morning-line favorite in Saturday’s 152nd Kentucky Derby: Repole Stable and Robert and Lawana Low’s Renegade .

Once Ted Noffey was removed from Triple Crown consideration, Brown’s undefeated Paladin became the buzz horse in the 3-year-old division after taking the Risen Star Stakes (G2). Yet in another example of how fickle fate can be, the $1.9 million yearling bought suffered a condylar fracture in his right front ankle, ending his Triple Crown hopes in late March.

However, Brown will send out Klaravich Stables’ Emerging Market in the 1 1/4 classic and as proof that his stable can produce both dirt and turf stars, he trained four horses that earned enough qualifying points to run in the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s a minefield and we stepped on one with one of our 3-year-olds, the biggest one,” Brown said about Paladin. “I had a lot of nice colts and was able to get a lot of points with them. I had four horses who had enough points to run. I know what I am doing with dirt horses. Clearly I have figured out how to get the points with the right horse and get into the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby comes up early in a colt’s career and I have a program that gets a horse to run over a lot of ground, whether it’s dirt or turf.”

Pletcher, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, said the potential for injury and disappointment keeps him from taking success for granted.

“We’ve been blessed with some good opportunities. We haven’t gotten there with some horses that we were hoping we would, but we’re just trying to focus on the one who remains on target. We’ve been in this situation before, so we don’t take anything for granted,” he said.

Renegade earned his role as the 4-1 morning-line favorite through a 4-length win in the Arkansas Derby (G1), but drew the rail for Saturday’s classic and faces the specter of a tumultuous trip.

“I think what’s been impressive is the way he’s finished his last few races. That’s his biggest strength,” Pletcher said. “It’s been well documented that in the final eighth in the Arkansas Derby and the final sixteenth in the Sam Davis Stakes he delivered a pretty strong closing kick. You also have to work out a good trip and he’s been tactical enough to do that. In a big field like this, that’s going to be everyone’s concern.”

As for Ted Noffey, Pletcher said he is doing fine in Ocala and expects to see him back at the stable’s Saratoga Race Course barn in mid-to late-May with the hope of getting him prepared for a race on the Spa.

“He had a good recovery and looks well. He put some weight on and filled out. We may start him with a short race to get him ready for a longer one,” he stated.

Pletcher had one other prime Derby candidate in Centennial Farms’ Nearly who won the Holy Bull Stakes (G3). But the Not This Time colt was sidelined after tiring and finishing fourth as the favorite in the Florida Derby (G1).

“Nearly is getting some time off at Centennial’s farm in Virginia for some freshening. Hopefully we’ll see him back at Saratoga,” Pletcher said. “We scratched our heads after the Florida Derby. He trained so perfectly into the race, but didn’t run the race we expected. We’ll give him some time, check him out, and come up with a game plan. But I don’t think it was a distance limitation. He just didn’t run his race. (Jockey John Velazquez) felt he didn’t handle the track as well as he did the last time.”

Like Pletcher, Brown will have only one starter in Saturday’s showdown. In Emerging Market, he has a son of Candy Ride who is long on talent but short on experience. He comes off a narrow win in the 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby (G2) in just his second start.

The last time a 3-year-old won the Kentucky Derby in his third start was 1883, but Brown seems much to like in the 15-1 shot.

“Knowing the horse and watching his first two starts, there’s no doubt an extra race or two would have likely given him more experience and potentially a touch more fitness. But that said, he showed me a lot in his two starts. He has a mile and three-sixteenths race under his belt and has six weeks remaining while some starters have four or five weeks. For me, the way I train, that’s a big positive. My horses off six weeks rest tend to run very well. He has a great mind. He has a lot of thousands on him even though he has two races on paper. He has been in my care and on the work tab on and off since June,” said Brown, a two-time Preakness Stakes (G1) winner who is searching for his first win in the Run for the Roses.

“He’s trained or raced at Belmont ParkPayson Park, Tampa Bay Downs, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slotsand now Churchill Downs. He’s run off the van twice and it did not hassle him. He has some expertise. He’s not getting into there like a first-time starter.

“He may not have as much experience as history says you need,” he added, “but he’s been on the road, training, and seeing different scenery and been on plenty of different surfaces. He’s a very athletic, light-framed, handy horse. He handles the turns well and has a good turn of foot for a dirt horse. He has multiple gears and a lot of stamina. He’s been nearly a mile and a quarter and I have a top jockey on him (Flavien Prat). I have more positive than negative.”

Aside from Emerging Market, who racked up 100 qualifying factors, Brown additionally had potential starters in Paladin (60 factors), Ottinho (56), and Iron Honor (50), all of whom amassed sufficient factors to start out within the Run for the Roses.

Ottinho and Iron Honor are each concentrating on the Preakness.

Brown stated Paladin is recovering from surgical procedure and can probably deal with a 4-year-old marketing campaign.

“We will give him every chance to return to the races,” the five-time Eclipse Award winner stated. “Making the Breeders’ Cup seems tight for him. It will more likely be a 4-year-old campaign.”