Pletcher gets a maiden

[Calzone Lord]

Ender Knievel leaves the Rusty Arnold barn after a 91 Beyer 2nd place finish in a 2yo MSW race in late December. Transfers to the Pletcher barn and goes Sunday.

On top of getting an extremely high quantity of the choice homebreds, yearlings, and two-year-old in traning buys...he's also cornering the market on hot 4th time starting maidens now.

[Sightseek]

Ender will help fill the stalls left by Ben Leon's horses.

[Calzone Lord]

Leon, advised by Todd Pletcher’s father, J.J. Pletcher, made a big splash at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton August select and Keeneland September sales, purchasing four yearlings for $6,260,000. None of those horses, now aged three, has yet to start, but Leon said the reason for changing trainers is due to the fact he has 15 additional recently-turned 2-year-olds and believes it makes business sense to have them with more than one trainer.

Hopefully he gets a start out of one of them this year. Hate to see a guy spend over $6.2 million for four horses and go more than two years without any of them making a race.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Hopefully he gets a start out of one of them this year. Hate to see a guy spend over $6.2 million for four horses and go more than two years without any of them making a race.

Supposedly the rumor around Ocala was that the big purchase was crippled after two works by the chosen one.....

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Scav

Supposedly the rumor around Ocala was that the big purchase was crippled after two works by the chosen one.....

Give him to Scooter Davis.

He took Deadly Dealer out of non-winners in a year 5K claiming race, where DD ran 8th with like a 20 Beyer, and Scooter got him running high 90's every time and winning stakes again.

[trackrat59]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Hopefully he gets a start out of one of them this year. Hate to see a guy spend over $6.2 million for four horses and go more than two years without any of them making a race.

At least now their livers are safe.

[DaTruth]

Lukas was criticized in his heyday for ruining a lot of horses, but at least most of his better horses had actual campaigns and he was a force to be reckoned with on racing's biggest days.

[Calzone Lord]

Can't speak for pre-Mid 90's ... but from Mid-90's on Lukas was pretty brutal and way, way, more overbet and underachieving than Pletcher.

He did a real number on a bunch of owners - Padua especially.

But like you said, he did campaign his horses hard and wasn't afraid to ship anywhere at anytime. Good from a fan standpoint.

Pletcher certainly isn't a $1.20 ROI year in and year out -- but it's kind of lame how he's become like his own brand or something. He's always been just a winter wizard -- who often gets hot in spots a few weeks before big sales...but is otherwise someone to avoid.

Terrible from a racing fan standpoint with his five and six race campaigns and horses still often falling apart late in the season.

Owners get lured into his brand just like they did with Lukas. There are some other trainers who I think would be at least as successful with his same stock and ownership support. They just don't have the brand that sucks in owners.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Ender Knievel leaves the Rusty Arnold barn after a 91 Beyer 2nd place finish in a 2yo MSW race in late December. Transfers to the Pletcher barn and goes Sunday.

On top of getting an extremely high quantity of the choice homebreds, yearlings, and two-year-old in traning buys...he's also cornering the market on hot 4th time starting maidens now.

Todd Pletcher also picked up a CA maiden named EZ Effort, one of the runners out of that French Deputy mare (French Debutante) you posted about last week. The colt ran 2nd in his debut behind a horse who debuted in a stakes at Del Mar (he ran 2nd).

Even though the horse is eligible for bonus-laden CA-bred maidens and allowances, Pletcher is having the horse sent to Florida.

[Dahoss]

Pletcher is soooooooo dreamy.

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

Pletcher is soooooooo dreamy.

9/5 through most of the wagering, I guess people don't truly understand how big a trainer change that was. Someone did, however, as he went from 7/5 in the gate to 4/5 at the 1/4 pole.

[Kasept]

Ender Knieval ran a 91 Beyer/3 on Thoro-Graph in his last. Who even needed the Arnold to Pletcher move (via private purchase) to expect him to win? The only horse close to him on paper was 2nd..

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Ender Knieval ran a 91 Beyer/3 on Thoro-Graph in his last. Who even needed the Arnold to Pletcher move (via private purchase) to expect him to win? The only horse close to him on paper was 2nd..

I certainly agree with this. It's just that I don't hold Rusty Arnold in high regard as a trainer. Take the career of Mint Chip as an example.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by golfer

9/5 through most of the wagering, I guess people don't truly understand how big a trainer change that was. Someone did, however, as he went from 7/5 in the gate to 4/5 at the 1/4 pole.

Trainer change or not, what he is doing at Gulfstream this meet is asinine.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Todd Pletcher also picked up a CA maiden named EZ Effort, one of the runners out of that French Deputy mare (French Debutante) you posted about last week. The colt ran 2nd in his debut behind a horse who debuted in a stakes at Del Mar (he ran 2nd).

Even though the horse is eligible for bonus-laden CA-bred maidens and allowances, Pletcher is having the horse sent to Florida.

Rich get richer.

If you took Pletcher's stable and picked out any random groom and made PG '1985 the stable manager -- that operation would still be a strong favorite to win the Eclipse year in and year out...so long as they get to keep the Pletcher brand name and are able to use him as a mascot.