Pletcher opts for softer Pegasus prep for Dynamic One

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday here a week from Saturday is the traditional Gulfstream Park prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, but trainer Todd Pletcher has found another avenue to the big event for the idled Dynamic One. The 5-year-old will use Friday’s $72,000 allowance feature at a mile as a possible stepping-stone to the nine-furlong Pegasus on Jan. 27.

Dynamic One has not started since finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 3, 2022, at Saratoga. In his previous outing, Dynamic One proved a game and popular winner of the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont, narrowly prevailing over First Captain after a furious three-horse stretch battle that also included third-place finisher Untreated.

Dynamic One has had six works since re-joining Pletcher’s barn at Palm Beach Downs during the fall, including five furlongs in 1:00.60 when shipping down to breeze at Gulfstream Park with regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard on Dec. 6.

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“We gave him time off after the [Jockey Club] Gold Cup for what was supposed to be a short break that turned out being longer than we expected,” Pletcher said. “He seems to be rounding back to form. He’s shown, at times, he’s capable of competing in a race like the Pegasus, but he’s going to have to earn his way in there so to speak.”

Ortiz will take his regular seat aboard Dynamic One, who, despite the layoff, will be heavily favored against seven rivals that include the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained duo of Picking Up Pennies and Positive Review, along with the Peter Walder-conditioned pair of Black Belt and Slim Slow Slider. Picture This, Boca Boy, and Cooke Creek complete the lineup.

Picking Up Pennies also has been idle for an extended period of time, since finishing a distant and tiring fourth behind Dean Delivers in the Big Drama Stakes for Florida-breds on May 20. Picking Up Pennies, who won three races in a row, all at one mile, over a six-month span culminating with a well-graded allowance win in his 2023 debut, also has trained forwardly for his return. Breaking from the rail, he projects to contest what figures to be an honest early pace along with Boca Boy.

Dynamic One is one of three horses Pletcher nominated to the Harlan’s Holiday, along with Gasoline and Grand Aspen, both of whom could potentially earn themselves a berth in the Pegasus World Cup with big efforts in their 2023 finales. Gasoline, the more accomplished of the pair, exits a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Clark on Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs. Grand Aspen won an entry-level allowance race going 1 1/8 miles on that same card in his most recent start.

A total of 17 horses were nominated to the Harlan’s Holiday, a list that also features Grade 2 winners Smile Happy and O’Connor, along with the latter’s Grade 1-placed stablemate Ny Traffic.

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