Todd Pletcher affirms belief in Super Saver
Here we go again. It took far less than the two minutes and 4.45 seconds Super Saver spent galloping around Churchill Downs to win the 136th Kentucky Derby before the inevitable question was posed: Is he the one?
Britain may like to believe itself to be the home of tradition but it is our trans-Atlantic cousins who have remained closer to their roots in this instance. The Triple Crown in Britain is now cast out into the distant lands between anachronism and extinction – even allowing for the failed attempt by St Nicholas Abbey to kick-start his Derby bid by winning the 2000 Guineas - but in America the dawning of each Classic season still brings with it the reaffirmation of a hope.
It is a hope that has not been nourished by a champion for more than 30 years now but the spark that was struck at Churchill Downs two weeks ago might yet burst into a flame of excellence.
Rating horses from different eras is a debate perhaps best left to the racecourse bars but time is definitely pressing if Super Saver is to become the first colt to claim the Triple Crown since Affirmed way back in 1978.
While the British version places an emphasis on stamina both in terms of distance - through the mile of the 2000 Guineas, 12 furlongs for the Derby and then one mile six-and-a-half furlongs in the St Leger - it also requires a colt to perform at a peak in races that are spread over four months.
By comparison the American version is more a case of instant gratification – or disappointment. Next stop is Pimilco on Saturday for the Preakness Stakes and then, presuming that Super Saver is still unbeaten, the holy grail of American racing can be claimed in the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 5th. If only it were that easy.
Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown and the period since Affirmed’s trilogy is the longest sequence without a Triple Crown winner in the history of American racing. In that time 11 horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but not completed the treble. Of those, Real Quiet came closest to winning the Triple Crown, losing the Belmont Stakes by a nose to Victory Gallop in 1998.
It had been fairly quiet in terms of the amount of attention that Super Saver has received in the build-up to the Preakness. On the day at Churchill the media focus was pretty much split between Calvin Borel becoming the first jockey in history to win the Kentucky Derby three times in four years and Todd Pletcher finally breaking a record of 0-24 in the race that had stretched over nine years. The horse, it seemed, was something of a bit-part player and Pletcher believes this is why he has slipped in under the radar.
“Everybody's looking for a story line," Pletcher told the Daily Racing Form. "Calvin won his third Derby, I got my first, and I think that took away somewhat from the attention on Super Saver. What I think got lost in the shuffle with Super Saver is the focus on some of the bad trips in the Derby. Super Saver got a good trip, but the reason he got a good trip is that he made his own trip with his tractability.”
One of those who seemed to get the worst trip since those onboard the Mary Celeste in the Derby was Lookin At Lucky. The favourite’s chances were not helped by his rail draw that left him caught in the scramble for position into the first turn and he was hampered again as he finished sixth. It was the second time in successive runs that Lookin At Lucky had been anything but lucky and his trainer, Bob Baffert, was relieved when he drew stall seven in the field of 12. “Something had to change,” he said. “He had been drawing so poorly.”
The other change has been the jockey. Garrett Gomez, who had ridden Lookin At Lucky in all nine career starts, has been replaced Martin Garcia.
Baffert did not blame Gomez for what happened in the Derby but did feel that the jockey was culpable for the ride he gave the colt in the Santa Anita Derby last month, when Lookin At Lucky finished third to Sidney’s Candy. Lookin At Lucky is co-owned by Mike Pegram, whose brother, Jim, is the agent for Garcia.
Explaining the choice, Baffert said earlier this week: “He just has that raw talent and he rides in California and he fits in there. I think the jockey colony is very strong in California, and he seems to be fitting in well. I think he's got a huge future in this business. I've been using him. He works a lot of my horses. He's worked Lookin At Lucky a lot.
“He's got a ways to go. He's a raw talent and he's riding with a lot of confidence right now. When he rides for me, he rides with a lot of confidence. I've been clicking with him really well lately. Everywhere I send him, he wins.”
Gomez has now switched to ride Dublin, trained by Wayne Lukas, who finished seventh in the Derby, and Lukas also runs Northern Giant, one of seven horses in the Preakness who did not run at Churchill Downs, which adds another dimension to Super Saver’s task; a task which Pletcher knows could bring the trainer within touching distance of a career-defining achievement.
“You really try not to get ahead of the race in front of you," Pletcher said. "But obviously we know that if he wins the Preakness, then it's a shot at immortality. You can't think about the Belmont too much because he's not there yet. But it's certainly in the back of your mind a little bit, because he's the only one that has a chance to do it this year.”
Here we go again.
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