When it comes to the Belmont, Pletcher finds fresher is better

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Kentucky Derby twice and is winless in the Preakness, but when it comes to the Triple Crown series, he saves his best for last.

Pletcher has won the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes three times, and has finished second in the race five times. Last year, he finished first and third with Tapwrit and Patch.

What all his winners have in common is that they came into the Belmont off a five-week break, a trend that has proven the most successful modern-day approach to the Belmont Stakes, and what stands in stark contrast to what Justify will try to accomplish here at Belmont Park on Saturday.

Justify will be attempting to sweep the Triple Crown, something that has been done once in the last 39 years. He will be one of just two horses, along with Bravazo, who will run in all three legs.

By contrast, four horses – Free Drop Billy, Hofburg, and the Pletcher-trained pair of Noble Indy and Vino Rosso – will be running in the Belmont after making their last start in the Kentucky Derby and then skipping the Preakness. Restoring Hope is on the same timetable, only his Derby Day appearance came in the Pat Day Mile.

Since 2000, when Commendable ran in the Derby, skipped the Preakness, then won the Belmont, nine other horses have won the Belmont using that schedule, and that list doesn’t include Rags to Riches, the Pletcher-trained filly who took the Kentucky Oaks before winning the 2007 Belmont.

That makes 10 winners – nine exiting the Derby, plus Rags to Riches – in the last 18 runnings who won the Belmont after last racing Derby weekend. In last year’s Belmont, Derby runners who bypassed the Preakness swept the Belmont superfecta. The last time the Belmont was run without a horse campaigned in that fashion was 1999.

:: Get Clocker Reports, PPs, news, analysis, and more for the 2018 Belmont Stakes

Pletcher believes “there’s more than one reason” why he’s done so well in the Belmont, but said, “The most obvious is the five-week period between the Derby and the Belmont.”

“We are here right after the Derby and train here, which I think is an advantage,” Pletcher said while watching his horses train earlier this week. “They don’t have a stressful race in between. But I also think the way we train – for stamina, with long gallop-outs in their works – gives them the foundation to handle the preps and the Derby and then has them ready to stay out the mile and a half.

“It’s an accumulation of all the training they’ve done leading up to the race. Getting them to that fitness level and maintaining that level.”

Vino Rosso was ninth and Noble Indy 17th in the Derby, run on a sloppy track. Pletcher said he believes Vino Rosso “didn’t handle the surface that great.”

“You look up at the end of the race and he’s beaten 10 lengths, which wasn’t horrible for a horse who didn’t run at all,” Pletcher said. “He ate a lot of mud. I don’t think I’ve had a horse have that much slop coming out of their eyes for that long after a race.”

As for Noble Indy, who landed post 19 of 20 in the Derby, “nothing went right, starting with the draw,” Pletcher said.

On Tuesday, Noble Indy drew post 9 when a field of 10 was entered in the Belmont Stakes, which is one lap around Belmont Park’s main track. Vino Rosso is right next door in post 8. Justify, unbeaten in five starts, landed the rail.

Justify is even-money on the line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper. He has Hofburg – who was a troubled seventh in the Derby – next at 5-1, then Vino Rosso at 6-1. David Aragona, who makes the official morning line for Belmont Park, has Justify at 4-5, with Hofburg 9-2 and then Bravazo and Vino Rosso the co-third choices at 8-1.

Trainer Bill Mott thinks the extra time has benefitted Hofburg.

“Maybe he’s a bit more relaxed than he was going into the Derby,” Mott said at his Belmont barn.

“I think he fits the profile of a horse who’ll like the Belmont. We skipped the Preakness, so he’s fresh and ready to go.”

That’s been the trend, embraced best by Pletcher.

Since first sending out Balto Star to an eighth-place finish under that schedule in 2001, Pletcher has won the Belmont with Palace Malice, Rags to Riches, and Tapwrit, and finished second with Bluegrass Cat, Commissioner, Destin, Dunkirk, and Stay Thirsty.

Pletcher’s first Belmont starter came in 2000, with Impeachment, who ran in all three Triple Crown races that year. He has not run a horse in all three Triple Crown races since that Belmont, the one won by Commendable. This is what works for him. No need for him to have to justify it.