Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Pletcher has big shot at No. 4
When it comes to the Triple Crown, trainer Todd Pletcher usually saves the best for last. For this year’s Belmont Stakes on Saturday, he’ll try to break on top.
Pletcher has won the Belmont three times, in each case with a horse who followed the same plan – a gap of five weeks into the 1 1/2-mile race after competing the first weekend of May at Churchill Downs.
This year, owing to chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Belmont, though postponed by two weeks, is the first leg of the Triple Crown, and at an abbreviated distance of 1 1/8 miles. That’s a lot of change. What hasn’t changed is that Pletcher is in with strong chances.
Pletcher will send out the rapidly improving Dr Post and the late-running Farmington Road against heavily favored Tiz the Law in the Belmont. Should either of his colts prevail, it would give Pletcher four Belmont wins in the 17 times he’s competed in the race, beginning in 2000.
His previous victories were with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, and Tapwrit in 2017. But Pletcher also has finished second in the race five times – including photofinish losses with Commissioner in 2014 and Destin in 2016 – and third three times.
The only trainers with more Belmont victories than Pletcher are James Rowe, Sam Hildreth, “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, Woody Stephens, Max Hirsch, D. Wayne Lukas, and R.W. Walden, all of whom are in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. A fourth win would move Pletcher into a tie with Hirsch, Lukas, and Walden. After going out on his own a quarter-century ago after apprenticing under Lukas, Pletcher is eligible to go on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time next year.
Both of Pletcher’s Belmont runners are sons of Quality Road, whom Pletcher trained for the second half of his career. Quality Road won three Grade 1 races for Pletcher – the Met Mile, Woodward, and Donn.
Dr Post “physically reminds me a great deal of Quality Road,” Pletcher said earlier this week on a national teleconference. “He’s a big, scopey colt that when you first look at him you think he wants to run all day, but he also, like his sire, has good tactical speed.
“From a physical comparison, very similar, same color,” he said of the bay colt.
Dr Post has made a mere three starts and is 2 for 2 this year. He seems to be rapidly improving based on his performances this year and his subsequent workouts. He beat maidens March 29, then won the Unbridled Stakes on April 25, both at Gulfstream.
“He’s a horse that’s probably benefitted from the change in the traditional Triple Crown calendar,” Pletcher said. “Under traditional timing, he was not going to be ready for probably any of the Triple Crown races, but certainly the Kentucky Derby,” which was scheduled for May 2 but is now Sept. 5.
“So this has kind of been to his benefit,” Pletcher said. “He’s progressed greatly since the beginning of the year. And while he lacks a little bit of experience in terms of number of races run, he got a lot of education in the Unbridled. He was kind of boxed in through a good portion of the race and ate a lot of dirt. We were happy that not only was he able to win, but kind of overcome some adversity and get some education.”
Dr Post was purchased as a yearling by the St. Elias Stable of Vinnie Viola. He is named for Dr. Martin Post, a New York cardiologist who has been a trusted physician for at least two generations of the Viola family.
Farmington Road is named for a street in Garden City, Mich., that was at intersection of the childhood home of Stephanie Clark, whose Chrysalis Stables bred Farmington Road and now owns him in partnership with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert LaPenta.
From a physical standpoint, Farmington Road is “a little more compact version of his sire,” Pletcher said. “Not quite the same color, a little darker color. Bright disposition, easy horse to train.”
Compared to Dr Post from a performance standpoint, Farmington Road has twice the experience, six races, but only half the wins, a lone victory against maidens. He was fourth in a division of the Risen Star, second in the Oaklawn Stakes, and fourth in a division of the Arkansas Derby, all at 1 1/8 miles.
“He’s probably a horse who would have benefitted from the traditional distance of the mileand-a-half Belmont, but he’s come close to delivering that breakthrough performance,” Pletcher said. “He’s a horse that doesn’t have a lot of early speed, but he’s got a good, sustained run. He would certainly appreciate a good, honest, fast pace up front, and an unbiased track that would be fair to closers.”