Pletcher 3-year-olds bring plenty of potential

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher brings a pair of potentially exciting 3-year-olds back to the races this weekend at Saratoga.

On Saturday, Pletcher will bring the undefeated Money Moves back off a near three-month layoff in a second-level allowance against older horses going 1 1/8 miles. On Sunday, Pletcher will send out the impressive debut winner Happy Saver in a first-level allowance, also at 1 1/8 miles.

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In February, Money Moves won his six-furlong debut by 1 1/2 lengths over a sealed and sloppy surface at Gulfstream. Money Moves came back to win a one-turn mile first-level allowance on March 27 by 2 3/4 lengths.

Money Moves, a son of Candy Ride, was likely headed to stakes competition but developed a temperature and “got pretty sick on us,” according to Pletcher, who trains Money Moves for Robert LaPenta and Bortolazzo Stable.

“We ended up missing more time than you do with your normal temperature,” Pletcher said. “He’s kind of a tricky horse to place coming back; there’s nothing that was ideal. We got some good works into him, and I’m hopeful we have him tight enough to go a mile and an eighth effectively off the layoff.”

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Money Moves is the lone 3-year-old in a field that includes the Pletcher-trained You’re to Blame; Dynamax Prime, an eight-time winner; and Blugrascat’s Smile, a nine-time winner. All three are in for the optional $62,500 tag.

On Sunday, Happy Saver also faces 3-year-olds and up. On June 20, Belmont Stakes Day, Happy Saver won a seven-furlong maiden race by 5 1/2 lengths. He earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I was very pleased with his debut,” said Pletcher, who trains Happy Saver for brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer. “He trained like he would come out running, but I thought that was even better than we could have hoped for. He’s come back with some very good breezes since then. The concern is going from seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth, but I felt like he’s capable of making that jump.”

The timing of these races is such that should either run well he could be under consideration for the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes here Sept. 5.