Eve of War carries high expectations into second start

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Todd Pletcher doesn’t have a starter in the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday, and yet he’ll be crazy-busy as usual. Pletcher not only intends to have about 10 runners on the Saturday undercard at Gulfstream Park, but he’ll be getting a head start when he sends out Eve of War as the favorite in the Friday feature.

Eve of War earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure in her only start, stamping herself as yet another potential star to emerge from the Pletcher powerhouse at the Palm Beach Downs training center. The daughter of Declaration of War is one of 11 3-year-old fillies in the only allowance of the day, a $51,000 first-level race at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Eight Palm Beach workouts preceded Eve of War’s unveiling on Super Bowl Sunday as she lived up to her even-money favoritism in a big way. With John Velazquez aboard, she quickly opened daylight on six other maiden sprinters before prevailing by 7 1/2 lengths under a hand ride.

“She trained very professionally for her debut and ran as well as we could have hoped for,” Pletcher said.

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Bred and owned by Jeff Treadway of Treadway Racing Stable, Eve of War has breezed twice more at Palm Beach since her eye-catching first start. She will have Velazquez back aboard when she breaks from post 7 in the ninth of 10 Friday races.

If Eve of War is to regress in her return, the most logical upsetters are Alandra and Fashion Babe.

Alandra (post 5, Julien Leparoux) probably needs more ground than what she’ll get here in her seasonal debut for Shug McGaughey, but she’s the apparent class of the field, having finished third as the favorite behind eventual champion British Idiom last fall in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland.

Fashion Babe (post 6, Javier Castellano), trained by Jason Servis, comes off a sharp maiden victory that equated to a 76 Beyer, the highest figure in the lineup this side of Eve of War.

Eve of War is one of three starters for Pletcher on Friday, along with Madame Moon in race 1 and Roman Empire in race 5. Pletcher is a three-time winner of the Fountain of Youth (2007, 2010, 2015), and his most well-regarded hopeful for the 2020 Kentucky Derby is Gouverneur Morris, whose next start is still to be determined.

First post Friday is 1 p.m. Eastern. The feature is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 wager, which spans races 5-10. A pool guarantee of $500,000 was projected for Friday, assuming the jackpot wasn’t swept by a solo winner Wednesday or Thursday.

The local forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 69.