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.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

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.

Branding suckers a lot of people into thinking a product is a lot better than it is. See: Kendall-Jackson wines, Grey Goose vodka, and Ruth's Chris steaks.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by 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.

Lukas hit a major dry spell in 1990 after his main client, Gene Klein, dispersed his holdings. That is a good period to compare to Pletcher's current reign, since both trainers had owners who weren't afraid to open their checkbooks at public auction.

Between 1980 and 1989, Lukas won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness (twice), and Kentucky Oaks (four times). Lukas had a reputation for getting the most out of his 2yos, and during that span he won the Spinaway four times, the Matron five times, the Frizette three times, the Oak Leaf six times, the Norfolk three times, the Del Mar Futurity three times, and the Del Mar Debutante six times, In the first seven Breeders Cups, he won the Distaff three times, the Juvenile three times, the Juvenile Fillies twice (was 1-2-3 in 1988), the Sprint, and the Mile. Not bad.

[Dahoss]

Lukas was pretty good in the mid 90's also. He won 6 straight triple crown races from 94-96 with 4 different horses. Tabasco Cat 1994 Preakness and Belmont. Thunder Gulch 1995 Derby and Belmont. Timber Country 1995 Preakness and Grindstone 1996 Derby.

Not to mention he was winning a lot of 2 year old stakes on both coasts during that time and his good horses ran frequently and they won a lot.

[Kasept]

On a related note, Repole-Pletcher pluck one from Thursday's $12.5k MCLM at GP:
http://www1.drf.com/drfPDFChartRaces...=20120202&RN=3

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

Lukas was pretty good in the mid 90's also. He won 6 straight triple crown races from 94-96 with 4 different horses. Tabasco Cat 1994 Preakness and Belmont. Thunder Gulch 1995 Derby and Belmont. Timber Country 1995 Preakness and Grindstone 1996 Derby.

Not to mention he was winning a lot of 2 year old stakes on both coasts during that time and his good horses ran frequently and they won a lot.

Yes -- but he also owned the yearling sales and got the best homebreds... and tried to point almost everything to the triple crown.

His ROI during that time was in the $1.20's and $1.30's.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Kasept

On a related note, Repole-Pletcher pluck one from Thursday's $12.5k MCLM at GP:
http://www1.drf.com/drfPDFChartRaces...=20120202&RN=3

Claimed it off of a 10-for-274 trainer.

I suppose if you're going to claim a 0-for-16 maiden for $12,500 ... might as well as claim it off of a trainer who is winning at less than 5%.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Yes -- but he also owned the yearling sales and got the best homebreds... and tried to point almost everything to the triple crown.

Right, just like Pletcher now. The only difference is Lukas dominated on racings biggest days. His horses were (for the most part) well prepared for the Triple Crown and Breeders Cup and at this point Pletcher horses have underperformed on the biggest stage.

There is something to be said for that.

[Immanuel Kant]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Branding suckers a lot of people into thinking a product is a lot better than it is. See: Kendall-Jackson wines, Grey Goose vodka, and Ruth's Chris steaks.

Over-rated:

Kendall-Jackson wines----yes!
Ruth's Chris steaks-------yes!
Grey Goose vodka-------oh NO!

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Cardus

What happened to Timber Country?

He won the first Preakness Stakes that I attended, and I thought that he was going to be a pretty good horse.

I recall reading an article in which Lukas said that he was going to miss the Belmont Stakes with a "fever", but he never ran again.

He doesn't come up very often, so I had forgotten about him.

That was a very underrated horse.

His dam was awesome too. For those not familiar with Fall Aspen, check her out on PQ.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Cardus

What happened to Timber Country?

He won the first Preakness Stakes that I attended, and I thought that he was going to be a pretty good horse.

I recall reading an article in which Lukas said that he was going to miss the Belmont Stakes with a "fever", but he never ran again.

He doesn't come up very often, so I had forgotten about him.

The fever was restricted to one of his legs.

He injured a tendon training a couple of months after the Belmont.

[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.