Todd Pletcher and father send out One Last Cast in Astoria
ELMONT, N.Y. – Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Todd Pletcher and his father, veteran horseman J.J. Pletcher, plan on running their entire stable this week at Belmont Park, starting with One Last Cast in the $150,000 Astoria on Thursday.
The 2-year-old filly they bred is one of two horses they race together. The other is Thebigfundamental, who is being pointed to a conditioned overnight race Saturday.
“We’re big players, big in the game,” J.J. Pletcher, 79, chuckled about his two-horse racing stable with Todd.
The Astoria is a 5 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies. It helps launch a race week that builds to Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. One Last Cast is part of an eight-horse field that includes Sugar Queen, who could go favored off a 3 1/4-length maiden special weight win at Belmont, and Waki Patriot, a five-length maiden special weight winner at Keeneland.
One Last Cast made her debut April 19 at Aqueduct and rallied for a 3 1/4-length win in a maiden special weight. Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard and retains the mount.
“She hasn’t got a lot of early speed,” J.J. Pletcher said. “She’ll come from off the pace. She did last time.
“We’re trying to get black type, make her worth a little more money.”
One Last Cast is a New York-bred daughter of Algorithms. Her winning dam, Firsttotheline, was raced by the Pletchers.
“We bought her out of the sale,” J.J. Pletcher said of Firsttotheline. “She was bred by Claiborne. Todd trained a horse called Lion Tamer, her half-brother, who won the Cigar Mile. I broke Algorithms for Starlight [Racing], so I wound up with a free breeding to him.”
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J.J. Pletcher said Firsttotheline now has a Mission Impazable yearling and weanling and has been bred back to Munnings.
J.J. Pletcher breaks, or gives early training lessons to, about 100 yearlings each year at his Payton Training Center in Ocala, Fla. One Last Cast went through his program before joining the stable of Todd Pletcher. J.J. Pletcher brings more than 50 years of training experience to racing, having saddled his first runner in 1962. He plans to be on hand this week at Belmont.
Sugar Queen wired the field in her debut May 3 and earned the Astoria’s best Beyer Speed Figure, a 69.
Waki Patriot exits the $100,000 Kentucky Juvenile at Churchill, where she finished fourth against male rivals and earned a 60 Beyer.
I Still Miss You, a maiden winner at Belmont, is out of the mare Lion’s Terms, who won 16 races.
