Mentee still possible for Hopeful

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has been on a good run with his 2-year-olds recently with Showcase winning the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and Tenacious Leader and Uncaged recording solid maiden wins.

While those horses may now be headed to stakes beyond this meet, Pletcher is hoping to get Mentee, his first 2-year-old winner of 2024, to the Grade 1 Hopeful on Sept. 2.

Mentee, a full brother to Fierceness who won his debut in track-record time at Aqueduct on June 15, returned to the work tab on Sunday, breezing a half-mile in 51 seconds. Mentee was entered in but scratched from the Grade 3 Sanford on July 13 with a temperature. He missed a few more days than anticipated, which kept him out of the Saratoga Special. Pletcher said Mentee has time for two more workouts and depending how they go, he could show up in the seven-furlong Hopeful.

“I thought his energy level was good, thought his gallop-out indicated he maintained his fitness well,” Pletcher said of Mentee’s Sunday work. “I think we’ll go five-eighths with him next week and see if were in position to look at the Hopeful.”

Pletcher said Showcase, Tenacious Leader, and Uncaged will be considered for races like the Grade 1 Champagne at Aqueduct and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

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