LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Todd Pletcher’s presence in the Kentucky Derby is as much a rite of spring as baseball, taxes, and the Masters. Starting in 2000, Pletcher has participated in 19 of 20 Kentucky Derbies. Ten times in that span, Pletcher has had three or more runners, including in 2010, when he started four horses and won his first Derby with Super Saver. In 2017, Always Dreaming, one of three starters Pletcher had that year, gave him his second blanket of roses. Saturday, Pletcher will participate in his 20th Derby with four runners – Known Agenda, Dynamic One, Bourbonic, and Sainthood. The four horses he runs Saturday will bring his total number of starters to a record 59. His former boss D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time Derby winner, is second with 49 starters. “What I appreciate is how excited the owners get,” Pletcher, 53, said here at Churchill Downs. “So to me, that’s why we want to deliver this, because that’s what drives a lot of the owners. They’re getting a lot of enjoyment for the last two weeks watching the breeze shows, watching them train, you can sense the excitement they’re having building up to a race like this. We want to do it, but part of the motivation is because you see how much it means to them.” Pletcher said he also enjoys the preparation process and still gets a little anxious as the race draws closer. “It’s partly fun, partly nerve-wracking,” he said. “If you still have that anxiety leading up to these types of moments, I think you’re still in the right game.” Pletcher certainly is in the right game. He is among the most successful trainers in the sport, having compiled more than 5,100 wins with his horses earning more than $404 million in purse money, the latter being the most of any trainer. He is a seven-time Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer. When Known Agenda won the Florida Derby in March, it marked the 24th consecutive year that Pletcher has won at least one Grade 1 race. In addition to the two Derbies, he has won three runnings of the Kentucky Oaks and had the likely favorite for Friday’s 147th running of the race in Malathaat. At the end of 2020, Pletcher completed his 25th year of training, making him eligible for induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. It would be a bigger upset than Upset if Pletcher’s name is not among the electees when results of the balloting are announced Wednesday. “It gives you a moment to reflect, first of all, how quickly it’s all gone by but just how many people played a role in it, how many horses played a role in it, and yeah, we’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “It’s not something you think about when you start your career, or I didn’t. If it happens it’ll be special for a lot of reasons to a lot of people.” :: Get DRF Clocker Reports for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks cards to access exclusive insights from morning training One of those people will be Jake Pletcher, Todd’s father and a former trainer. Jake has played an integral role in his son’s success as he breaks many of Todd’s horses at his farm in Ocala. Fla. “He was born and raised in it,” Jake Pletcher said of his son. “You talk about a racetrack rat, he was one.” Jake Pletcher said he made sure Todd went to college before he pursued a career in racing. Jake noted that a week after Todd graduated from the University of Arizona, he drove his son to New York, where he began working full-time for D. Wayne Lukas. After a six-year stint with Lukas, Pletcher went out on his own in 1996. Pletcher’s list of accomplishments fills three full pages in the New York Racing Association media guide. A perusal of his list of 10 champions perhaps sums up Pletcher’s career best. He’s trained a champion sprinter (Speightstown), two champion 2-year-olds (Shanghai Bobby and Uncle Mo), two champion older males (Left Bank and Lawyer Ron), two champion females (Fleet Indian and Ashado), and two champion turf horses (Wait a While and English Channel). One of his three Belmont Stakes wins came with Rags to Riches, the first filly to win that classic race in more than a century. She also was a champion. :: DRF's Kentucky Derby Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, past performances, analysis, and more Pletcher’s horses have gone on to excel at stud. Horses like More Than Ready, Speightstown, Uncle Mo, and Constitution were among the top 20 sires in the United States in 2020. Four of the 20 Kentucky Derby entrants are progeny of horses Pletcher formerly trained. “It’s something that we’re very proud of – a lot of these horses we’ve trained have gone to become successful stallions and mares,” said Pletcher, noting that his Oaks starter, Malathaat, was a product of the Grade 1-winning dam Dreaming of Julia, whom he trained. Owner Mike Repole has owned horses with Pletcher for 15 years and has come to a simple conclusion. “To me, I think he’s the greatest trainer of all time at every single level,” he said. “He’s become a stallion maker, he’s changed the pedigrees for generations to come. When it’s all said and done, he’s going to go down as the greatest trainer ever, and it’s not going to be close.” Much like Pletcher being one of several former assistants to D. Wayne Lukas to go on and have successful careers, there are several Pletcher assistants that also are doing well on their own. George Weaver and Michael McCarthy have won Grade 1 races and were to participate in Friday’s Oaks. :: Get Kentucky Derby Betting Strategies for exclusive wager recommendations, contender profiles, pedigree analysis, and more Jonathan Thomas trained the dual surface Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy and has a growing stable in New York. “It’s great to see those guys doing well, but I also appreciate the type of operations they run and the quality people that they are and the way they conduct themselves,” Pletcher said. “In some ways it’s a big family tree that started with Wayne; his fingerprints are all over it. It’s great to see some people who helped me a lot go out and have success on their own.” McCarthy said his time working for Pletcher helped lay the groundwork for the success he’s had training on the Southern California circuit. “I kind of like to think that everything we do is channeled through what I did when I was there,” McCarthy said. “If you were there and you applied yourself, were invested, whatever you went and did afterwards I believe your success reflects being there.” Whether or not he wins his third Derby on Saturday and/or his fourth Oaks on Friday, Pletcher said there’s plenty more to do, plenty of races yet to win. “You can never achieve everything, you’re never going to win every race, there’s always a race out there that you haven’t won,” he said. “If you’re looking for goals, there’s easy ones to identify all the time. I think I just enjoy developing horses and kind of am always looking forward to the next good one. Motivation’s easy to find.”