Pletcher well represented up and down the card

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Before Todd Pletcher sends out Known Agenda in trying to win the Florida Derby for a record sixth time, the future Hall of Fame trainer will have a busy day with a number of top contenders in the earlier stakes.

Among Pletcher’s best chances is Malathaat, the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, a 100-40-20-10 qualifying points race for the April 30 Kentucky Oaks. Pletcher also will run Always Shopping, already a winner of the Via Borghese and La Prevoyante at the championship meet, as the horse to beat in the Grade 3 Orchid after bypassing the Feb. 27 The Very One with the resurgent Repole Stable homebred mare.

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Malathaat, by Curlin, will be making her 3-year-old debut after winning all three starts last year, including a pair of Aqueduct stakes. Malathaat is owned by the Shadwell Stable of the estate of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who died Wednesday at age 75.

Pletcher also trains Fearless, clearly the top nominee to the Grade 3 Ghostzapper, but the 5-year-old gelding was not entered. Fearless goes next in the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap on April 17.

Meanwhile, with 54 wins to start the final week of the meet, Pletcher is on the verge of topping the Gulfstream winter standings for the 17th time, extending his own record. Pletcher has been the leading trainer here almost every winter since 2004, with the only exception during that span being 2019, when he was second to Jorge Navarro, who since has been barred from the sport.