Jackson Hole, Accelerize give Pletcher big day
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Todd Pletcher couldn’t have hoped for more than he got with the two Saturday runners he shipped to Fair Grounds from his winter base at Palm Beach Downs. The 3-year-old Jackson Hole, coming off a one-turn-mile debut win, easily captured a first-level route allowance, and 4-year-old Accelerize, making his fourth career start and stakes debut, led wire to wire in the Grade 3 Louisiana, where he held off odds-on favorite Just a Touch.
Both horses could return to Louisiana in February, Jackson Hole in the Risen Star, Accelerize in the Mineshaft Stakes.
Jackson Hole won by 5 1/2 lengths under Flavien Prat and clocked a 1 1/16-mile time .27 of a second faster than the Lecomte Stakes much later on the card, his Beyer leaping from a 60 in his modest debut score to an 84.
“Even though he won first time out, I didn’t think that was indicative of the quality or talent he’d shown us in the morning. He was green, put on the brakes when he made the lead,” Pletcher said. “He’s still learning. He pricked his ears at hoofprints on the track approaching the sixteenth pole. Flavien thought he had a lot left in the tank.”
While the Risen Star is one of several possible spots for Jackson Hole, Pletcher has Courting pointed toward the race. Courting, a classic-looking colt by Curlin, finished a troubled fourth last out in the Grade 2 Remsen, and Pletcher plans to start Courting in blinkers for the first time.
“He worked in the blinkers and we got the result we were hoping for,” Pletcher said. “I like the mile-and-an-eighth for him. I think he’s an improving horse.”
Accelerize validated his brilliant debut victory at Tampa Bay Downs in March 2025, moving considerably forward off two Gulfstream allowance races after several months on the sidelines. Accelerize in his two-turn debut Saturday earned a career-best 97 Beyer.
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