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Derby first Rookie trainer makes Kentucky Derby history
Posted: Tuesday May 02, 2000 06:39 PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- He used to be part of Team Lukas, where he was schooled on what it takes to win Triple Crown races by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Todd Pletcher learned plenty in 6 1/2 years under Lukas, and just five years since setting out on his own, the bright, young trainer has a chance for a sensational Kentucky Derby debut. Not only will this be the first Derby for the 32-year-old New York-based trainer, but with four 3-year-olds in the field, Pletcher also makes history: No other rookie Derby trainer has saddled four starters. Pletcher's foursome is no pushover, either. He trains Blue Grass runner-up More Than Ready for James Scatuorchio; Arkansas Derby winner Graeme Hall for Eugene and Laura Melnyk; and undefeated Trippi and Impeachment, third in the Arkansas Derby, for Cot Campbell's Dogwood Stable. "I'm pleased and excited about it," Pletcher said Sunday morning in front of Barn 42 at Churchill Downs. "But it's really hard to get too caught up in it because we're here with a job to do and we have four horses to do it with." Spoken like a true Lukas disciple -- business, after all, is business. Lukas, meanwhile, will send three horses in Saturday's 1 1/4-mile Derby -- Blue Grass winner High Yield, Exchange Rate and Commendable -- as he tries for his 13th win in a Triple Crown race. Pletcher started working for Lukas after learning the "training fundamentals" from his father, Jake, who worked primarily on the Midwest racing circuit. He came away from his Lukas experience in 1996 with a much better understanding of what it takes to run a highly successful stable. Under his watch, Thunder Gulch won the '95 Florida Derby and then won the Derby and Belmont Stakes for Lukas. On his own, Pletcher's best campaigner until this year was Jersey Girl, who won seven in a row including the Acorn, Mother Goose and The Test in 1998. "What Wayne's organization does is it operates on a couple of fronts so everything has to be methodical and organized," said Pletcher, who has a degree in animal science from Arizona. "And there's a lot of attention to details. If you were working for someone with 20 horses, maybe you wouldn't get all that." Pletcher seems to have the hang of it now. He has 80 horses in training in Kentucky and New York. "He's turned into a terrific horseman with a great mind and a great flair for detail," Campbell said. Other Lukas graduates include trainers Mark Hennig and Dallas Stewart. Asked about Pletcher preparing for his first Derby, Lukas said: "I wish all of them had horses (here), and someday they will. And he (Pletcher) has four!" More Than Ready, to be ridden by John Velasquez, looks to be Pletcher's best bet in an expected full 20-horse field. In the 1 1-8-mile Blue Grass, he battled High Yield in the stretch before losing by a head. He has six wins, two seconds and a third in 10 career starts, but has yet to win going around two turns. "He established himself early on as a very good horse," Pletcher said of his colt who won his first five starts. "We knew we had a classics type horse then. He was second in the Louisiana Derby his first time around two turns, and ran better in the Blue Grass. He's moving in the right direction." Then there's Trippi, unraced as a 2-year-old and 4-for-4 this year, including a win the Flamingo Stakes on April 8 at Gulfstream Park. The last Derby winner who did not race as a 2-year-old was Apollo in 1882. "He's the biggest surprise of all," Pletcher said. "He's been playing catch up all spring and has caught up very quickly." Trippi, who will be ridden for the first time by Jorge Chavez, had his final workout Sunday, going six furlongs in 1:12 4-5, according to Pletcher. Graeme Hall, an 18-1 shot, led wire-to-wire in taking the Arkansas Derby on April 15, his third start this year. As a 2-year-old, he was second in the Breeders' Cup Futurity and then 12th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Shane Sellers gets the call on Graeme Hall. "He's really stepped forward in the last month," Pletcher said of Graeme Hall. And then there's the closer in the group, Impeachment, who rallied from way back for third in the Arkansas Derby after a second-place finish in the Tampa Bay Derby. He will be ridden by Craig Perret. "He's just now learning how to run, learning how to get dirt in his face and not overreacting," Pletcher said. More Than Ready, Graeme Hall and Impeachment will have final workouts Monday. The last "unknown" trainer to make a huge Derby impact was the exuberant, white-haired Bob Baffert, who finished second with Cavonnier in 1996 before winning the next two Derbys with Silver Charm ('97) and Real Quiet ('98). Don't look for Pletcher to become a media darling the way Baffert did. In fact, Pletcher sounded almost embarrassed with his good fortune. "Some people might say, 'Oh, you know this guy's here with four horses. He's trying to make a big splash or whatever,'" he said. "We're here because all four horses deserve a chance to be here." Apparently, so does Pletcher.
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