After big weekend, Pletcher sitting pretty in Breeders' Cup Distaff

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher was at Keeneland to watch Malathaat win the Spinster Stakes on Sunday and not at Aqueduct to see Nest win the Beldame earlier in the day. There’s absolutely no reading into what any of that means, simply because a person can’t be in two places at one time.

Human cloning still forbidden, Pletcher availed himself to watching Nest via simulcast, and in both races, he very much liked what he saw.

“It’s 27 days to the Breeders’ Cup,” he said Sunday following the Spinster, a reference to when Nest and Malathaat will meet on the track for the first time, in the BC Distaff on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, “so you don’t want to do too much. I hope that in both cases, we were able to accomplish what we wanted to – which was to win and have something left in the tank for the Breeders’ Cup.”

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While Nest is the undisputed leader among 3-year-old fillies, Malathaat has competition atop the filly-mare dirt division in the form of Clairiere, who defeated her twice this year. The 1 1/8-mile Distaff not only will go a long way in showcasing a rivalry that’s about to be decided within the Pletcher stable, but one outside it as well.

“We’re blessed to have two fillies like this,” Pletcher said. “They’re so professional and seem to get better and better as you go along.”

Pletcher was still in New York on Saturday when he began another huge weekend at Keeneland. He had a huge Saturday with Annapolis winning the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile and Forte taking the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity. His all-time Keeneland stakes tally now stands at 64, tops in track history.

With her 5 1/4-length jaunt in the Spinster, the last of 11 FallStars stakes run on the opening three-day weekend to the fall meet, Malathaat earned an automatic berth into the Distaff. All but two of the FallStars stakes were Win and You’re In events, and those Saturday winners, Golden Pal (Woodford) and In Italian (First Lady) both are headed to the BC Turf Sprint and BC Filly and Mare Turf, respectively.

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The other eight winners, as well as some of the horses they defeated, also will be back for the Nov. 4-5 championships.

From Friday, Manny Wah goes to the BC Sprint off his Phoenix upset and Delight to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf after romping in the Jessamine. The respective one-two finishers in the Alcibiades, Wonder Wheel and Chop Chop, move on to the BC Juvenile Fillies, with third-finisher (disqualified to fourth) Raging Sea also possible.

The other three Saturday stakes winners also can move on, although the ownership partners in Slammed, an easy winner of the Thoroughbred Club of America, are still considering whether to supplement the New Mexico-bred 4-year-old to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Annapolis goes to the BC Mile and Forte to the BC Juvenile.

From Sunday, Private Creed advances to the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint after winning the Indian Summer, and Andthewinneris goes to the BC Juvenile Turf after capturing the Bourbon.

Record handle opening weekend

Blessed with spectacular weather for the first three days of the meet, Keeneland attracted wagering handle at a rate that’s on pace to break the track’s all-time record of $181 million set last fall.

The aggregate three-day total was $49,966,786, according to track figures, an increase of 6.8 percent over the three corresponding days at the 2021 fall meet. Betting on the 11-race Saturday program was nearly $21.7 million, a record for a non-Breeders’ Cup card in the fall.

“It was a great weekend with safe, competitive racing,” said Gatewood Bell, Keeneland vice president for racing.

Betting favorites won 11 of 31 races (35 percent), and field size averaged 9.3 horses per race.

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