Renegade, Antiquarian lead busy morning of works for Pletcher
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher had a busy morning on the main track Friday at Saratoga, working a very diverse group of 18 horses that consisted of several older stakes runners and a large number of 2-year-olds prepping for their career debuts. The Pletcher contingent was led by Kentucky Derby runner-up Renegade and 2025 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Antiquarian.
Renegade led off the Pletcher parade shortly after 7 a.m., breezing an easy half-mile in 50.80 seconds in company with his multiple stakes-winning stablemate Tuscan Sky. The work was the fourth for Renegade since his third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes here June 6.
“I liked the way he went, finished okay and galloped out really strongly,” Pletcher said of Renegade’s latest work. “He’s put on some weight, and I think he’s done well since the Belmont.”
Looking back on the Belmont five weeks earlier, Pletcher said he felt Renegade didn’t get the greatest of trips that day.
“He was always in a difficult position, with horses always in front of him and around him,” Pletcher noted. “I thought he ran a decent race, but not as well as he did in the Kentucky Derby or Arkansas Derby. I felt like we were making progress as we got closer to the race but perhaps didn’t have him quite back to his peak. I think the added time from the Belmont to the Jim Dandy is going to have him back to his best.”
The Jim Dandy will be run Aug. 1.
Antiquarian also breezed an easy four furlongs in company Friday in 50.66, back on the tab for the first time since finishing a very disappointing fourth, 11 1/4 lengths behind Phileas Fogg, as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Suburban 13 days earlier.
“He tried to break sharply, kind of spread eagled and all of a sudden was not in the position we wanted to be in. And then, they kind of slowed the pace down on him,” Pletcher explained looking back on Antiquarian’s frustrating outing in the Suburban. “The race was really over for him at the beginning.”
Pletcher said he would keep an eye on the Aug. 8 Whitney to see how the race was shaping up before making a final decision on Antiquarian’s next start.
“I thought his work was good this morning,” Pletcher offered. “We’ll see how he trains moving forward. At the moment, we don’t have a lot of options aside from the Whitney. Charles Town [Classic] is a three turn-race, and he’s already shown he doesn’t like Del Mar [the Pacific Classic], which kind of knocks that option off the table.”
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