Pletcher brings three sharp horses to Pegasus World Cup Turf
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – This ought to be a big year for Todd Pletcher, no matter how his horses run. With the requisite 25 years of training now under his belt, he’s eligible to make the Racing Hall of Fame. No first-ballot candidate has ever been a bigger cinch.
Still, there’s more work to do. Pletcher will have three of the 12 starters Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf, and he stands as good a chance to win as anyone else when he saddles Colonel Liam, Largent, and Social Paranoia in what shapes up as a wide-open third running of the $1 million race. All three are last-out winners.
Colonel Liam was established as a lukewarm 7-2 morning-line favorite for the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf when entries were drawn here Wednesday – and that’s despite his only two stakes attempts coming last year against 3-year-olds. His latest race, a drawing-off score in the Dec. 26 Tropical Park Derby, points out his recent sharpness.
“I loved the way he pulled away at the end,” said Pletcher. “We’ve always had high hopes for him, so it’s nice to see him living up to those.”
Largent was a 16-1 winner of a contentious renewal of the Dec. 12 Fort Lauderdale in his latest.
“That was his breakthrough performance,” said Pletcher. “He’s always been very consistent.”
Social Paranoia, noted Pletcher, “has won as far as a mile and five-sixteenths.”
“He’s consistent and likes this course,” he said, referring to a 3-for-4 record over the Gulfstream turf.
Pletcher, 53, is the all-time leading trainer in North America in stable earnings with nearly $400 million. A seven-time Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer, Pletcher has a record at Gulfstream that’s particularly strong, with 16 training titles and five Florida Derby victories to his credit.
Results of the 2021 Hall of Fame election will be announced in late April, with induction in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., tentatively scheduled for early August, pending the pandemic situation.
Besides the Pletcher trio, the other Pegasus Turf entrants are Anothertwistafate, Aquaphobia, Breaking the Rules, Cross Border, Next Shares, North Dakota, Pixelate, Say the Word, and Storm the Court.
The other 4-year-olds in the race are Pixelate and Storm the Court, and they will join Colonel Liam in making their first stakes start against older rivals.