Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Current, Opry give Pletcher two chances

Todd Pletcher will take two swings at a second win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

Churchill was the site of Pletcher’s only previous success in the race, with Pluck in 2010, and this year Pletcher has Opry and Current for the one-mile race around Churchill’s tight grass course.

Pluck came out of the Summer Stakes at Woodbine to register his Juvenile Turf win, but this year’s models have traveled different routes. Opry captured the Grade 3 With Anticipation at Saratoga to earn his Juvenile Turf chance and probably is better than his fourth-place finish Sept. 29 in the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont.

But he might not be better than Current. Current debuted in a turf sprint and finished second to the vastly talented but sidelined colt Fog of War, and since has turned in two very encouraging turf route races. On Sept. 8 at Belmont, he tracked a slow pacesetter and finished strongly, registering a three-length maiden win. On Sunday at Keeneland, Current closed with a rush to win the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes – a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race linked to the Juvenile Turf – by a nose. Current still was only sixth, trailing the leader by more than five lengths, at the stretch call before unleashing a furious rally.

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“At the eighth pole watching it you wouldn’t have picked him out as the winner,” Pletcher said Tuesday.

Current, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert LaPenta, is a son of Curlin and Crosswinds, by Storm Cat, and was purchased at auction for $725,000. Though he has raced only on turf, Current, Pletcher said, trains like a decent horse on dirt, too, and could try the main track at some point. Pletcher said that while the Juvenile Turf remains Current’s target, there’s a chance he could be cross-entered in the BC Juvenile.

Also, after initially thinking Current might train up to the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky, Pletcher decided to ship him back to Belmont on Tuesday. He’ll join the rest of Pletcher’s New York-based Breeders’ Cup-meeting runners on an Oct. 29 flight to Kentucky.

“He’s trained so well at Belmont we just decided to ship him back here,” Pletcher said.

Current, a flashy chestnut with a glowing mane, has gone through “a steady progression since he came in,” Pletcher said.

“We had high hopes for him with his pedigree, et cetera,” he said. “He was fairly high spirited and energetic, but what I like is the more we’ve done with him, the more professional and composed he’s become. He still had hints of greenness in the stretch [at Keeneland], but he settled really well and produced a big late turn of foot.”

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Opry lost some luster when he was beaten more than six lengths by Forty Under in the Pilgrim, run on a wet turf course. Opry was forced because of circumstances to move early and wide on the turn.

“He’s come out of it well and trained well,” Pletcher said. “We’ll prepare for the Breeders’ Cup and hope he takes to the Churchill turf course.”

Henley’s Joy, nipped at the Bourbon wire, will run back in the Juvenile Turf, all being well, as might third-place Salvator Mundi, who was just a nose behind Henley’s Joy.

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At Longchamp on Sunday, Royal Marine beat Broome by a head in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, a BC Challenge race, but neither colt is expected to come to Louisville. Godolphin, the owner of Royal Marine, has a colt named Line of Duty who is possible for the Juvenile Turf. The Group 1 Dewhurst on Saturday at Newmarket will help clarify the European picture regarding the Juvenile Turf.

King of Speed on Monday won the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita and is likely to be aimed at the Juvenile Turf.