Pletcher's pair of Daredevil, Carpe Diem drawn toward outside
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ARCADIA, Calif. - Twelve is quickly becoming trainer Todd Pletcher’s unlucky number.
For the second straight year, Pletcher will have a horse leave from post 12 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, where there is a short run to the first turn in races run at 1 1/16 miles.
Daredevil, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park, was assigned post 12 in a 13-horse field drawn Monday for Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Last year, Pletcher’s Havana left from post 12 - he originally had the 13 before a late scratch - and finished second.
“It’s a little further out than you’d prefer, but last year Havana worked out a pretty good trip,” Pletcher said by phone from New York. “He’s a good gate horse, we may have to use him a touch leaving there but like I’ve said before, sometimes you get good trips from bad posts and sometimes you get bad trips from good posts.”
Javier Castellano rides Daredevil.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2014: Post positions and odds
Pletcher’s other horse, Carpe Diem, the Breeders’ Futurity winner, drew post 9.
“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s fairly close to American Pharoah and that’s the horse Johnny [Velazquez] is going to have to keep an eye on in the race so he’ll be able to see where he is.”
Daredevil was made the 7-2 second choice on the morning-line of Santa Anita’s Jon White behind American Pharoah, the 2-1 morning-line favorite. Carpe Diem was made the 4-1 third choice.
American Pharoah, the dual Grade 1 winner trained by Bob Baffert, drew post 5.
“Five’s a good spot,” Baffert said. “They have to break, if they don’t break, it doesn’t matter what post they draw.”
American Pharoah broke on top in the Grade 1 FrontRunner, a race he controlled throughout en route to a 3 1/4-length victory that established him as the favorite for the Juvenile. Baffert won the Juvenile last year with 10-1 shot New Year’s Day, who broke from post 4.
Baffert’s other Juvenile entrant, One Lucky Dane, ended up in post 11.
The Juvenile field, from the rail out, is: Calculator (Elvis Trujillo), Private Prospect (Jesse Campbell), Blue Dancer (Rico Walcott), The Great War (Ryan Moore), American Pharoah (Victor Espinoza), Lucky Player (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Texas Red (Kent Desormeaux), Souper Colossal (Paco Lopez), Carpe Diem (John Velazquez), Mr. Z (Mike Smith), One Lucky Dane (Rafael Bejarano), Daredevil (Javier Castellano) and Upstart (Jose Ortiz).