Belmont: Stradivari may join Pletcher stablemate Destin

ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher has participated in 12 runnings of the Belmont Stakes, and five times he has run more than one horse in the third leg of the Triple Crown. There’s a strong possibility he’ll run two horses in the 147th Belmont Stakes on June 11.

Destin, the sixth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, is a definite starter for the Belmont. With each passing day from last Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, Stradivari is making his case to run back in the 1 1/2-mile race.

Pletcher, a two-time Belmont Stakes winner, said he has yet to discuss the Belmont with Stradivari’s owners – John Gunther, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, and Susan Magnier – but he sounded Friday like he would like to get the green light to run.

“If he continues to do well, I think we’ll have that discussion,” Pletcher said Friday morning. “But I’d be happy with what I’m seeing.”

Pletcher said Stradivari’s “appetite is good, he’s been galloping good” since the Preakness. He is scheduled to breeze next Friday or Saturday.

Meanwhile, Destin, the Tampa Bay Derby winner, had his first breeze since the Kentucky Derby on Friday. He went five furlongs in 1:01.67, working in company with Stanford, the Charles Town Classic winner and a candidate for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.

Destin, under exercise rider Hector Ramos, was on the outside of the pair and the two went head-and-head through splits of 13.38 seconds, 25.23, 36.83, and got their last quarter in 24.84 seconds. Stanford had a head in front at the wire. The two basically galloped out together in 1:15.13 for six furlongs and 1:29.25 for seven eighths.

“I wouldn’t call him a horse that’s overzealous in his training,” Pletcher said of Destin, who works in blinkers. “He’s an honest work horse, but you would have to put him in company to keep him focused.”

By design, Destin had eight weeks between his victory in the Tampa Derby to the Kentucky Derby. He broke a bit slowly in the Derby and found himself 11th going across the finish line the first time. He moved into third in upper stretch, but flattened out in the final furlong and was beaten seven lengths by Nyquist.

“We wanted to be closer than we were,” Pletcher said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t break very well, got shuffled back a little further. We spent a lot of our energy making a move to get to that point where we should have already been and paid the price for that the last eighth of a mile and flattened out a little. I thought it was a respectable effort, for sure.”

Pletcher has had some success in the Belmont with horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby and then skipped the Preakness. In 2013, Palace Malice won the Belmont after running 12th in the Derby. In 2006, Bluegrass Cat ran second in both the Derby and Belmont. In 2011, Stay Thirsty ran second in the Belmont after running 12th in the Derby. In 2009, Dunkirk was second in the Belmont after finishing 11th in the Derby. Pletcher’s other Belmont winner, Rags to Riches, won the Kentucky Oaks and had five weeks between starts.

Pletcher believes Destin has the pedigree and the temperament to get 1 1/2 miles.

“I think he’s got enough pedigree to suggest that he’s going to stay that far,” Pletcher said. “I think he’s got the right type of personality, too. You don’t want a horse that’s going to run off the first part. He’ll put himself in a spot but he generally is not going to get rank early. I think you need a horse that will turn off and gallop, and I think he’ll do that.”

Also at Belmont Friday, Governor Malibu, second to Unified in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes, worked five furlongs in 1:00.72 over the main track in preparation for the Belmont Stakes. Jockey Joel Rosario was aboard for the move.

Equipped with blinkers, equipment he has worn in his last three races, Governor Malibu broke off at the half-mile pole and went his opening quarter-mile in a solid 24.05 seconds. He went from the quarter pole to the wire in 23.92 and then from the wire to the 1 3/8-mile pole in 12.75 seconds.

“The most important thing is he was moving well, he was very willing, and he looked well,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “Pedigree-wise you’d be worried about the mile and a half – he’s by Malibu Moon out of a Langfuhr mare– but he’s always run like a horse that wanted to run longer.”

◗ Preakness winner Exaggerator just walked the shed at Pimlico Friday morning. It was his second straight walk day.

“If one day of rest is good, two has got to be better,” trainer Keith Desormeaux said. “He’s earned his rest. We’re just trying to help him recover the best way we know how.”

Exaggerator was scheduled to train at Pimlico on Saturday morning and then ship by van to Belmont early Sunday morning.