Grande and River Thames, two stakes-placed 3-year-olds in 2025 trained by Todd Pletcher, are working their way back toward the races. Grande, the Grade 2 Wood Memorial runner-up who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby with a foot bruise, has worked five times since Dec. 8, including a half-mile in 50.77 seconds Monday at the Palm Beach Downs training center. Pletcher said Grande had a series of setbacks following the foot bruise that led to him getting the remainder of the year off. “You get off schedule and it’s hard to get back on. We had a colic episode. It was just one thing after another,” Pletcher said. “We decided to regroup. He looks really well at the moment, his breezes have been really good.” Pletcher said he would like to find a race at a distance of at least one mile sometime in February. Prior to his runner-up finish to Rodriguez in the Wood Memorial, Grande won a maiden race going a mile and a first-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles, both at Gulfstream Park. :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports are available now.  Meanwhile, River Thames, unraced since a sixth-place finish in the Preakness, has had a trio of three-furlong workouts, including one on Sunday in 39.20 seconds at Palm Beach. River Thames, who won his first two starts at Gulfstream last winter, finished second, beaten a neck by Sovereignty in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. He was then third to Burnham Square in the Blue Grass before the Preakness. Pletcher said River Thames “was a little banged up” coming out of the Preakness and was sent home to WinStar Farm, where he had a couple of “minor setbacks.” “So far, the horse looks great, filled out, grown up,” Pletcher said. “We’ll see as we get closer. Obviously, he’s a New York-bred, so we’ll keep that in mind, but he’s certainly capable of open company as well. So, we’ll see when he gets ready we’ll see what kind of options we have.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.