LEXINGTON, Ky. - Todd Pletcher won the for the third straight year when Exhi led all the way Saturday at Keeneland to render the results of the Grade 2 race moot toward the May 1 Kentucky Derby.
Exhi, a 19-1 shot under Robby Albarado, earned $180,000 of the $300,000 Lexington purse and surely will not make the 20-horse cutoff for the Derby. Pletcher, watching from Gulfstream Park in Florida, said Exhi, a Maria's Mon colt, would not be pointed toward the Derby, regardless. Exhi held off Bushwacked by a length in the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race.