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Road to the Triple Crown: Super Saver rising

Posted: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:03 PM

SUPER SAVER

PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times

by Jeff Lowe

Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Super Saver may have needed a few months to catch up to his peers this winter, but it took him much less time to shoot to the head of the class (video).

Trainer Todd Pletcher and his staff noticed soon after Super Saver’s second-place finish in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 10 that he had turned a corner in his training. His progress coincided with a return to Churchill Downs, where he won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) by five lengths last November.

“It just seemed like he was moving forward, literally from the first day he went to the track [at Churchill],” Pletcher said. “He was moving real well, went to the track great, trained well leading up to his first breeze and breezed great. It really seemed like the Arkansas Derby moved him forward. He was getting ready to run his best race. We were excited about that.”

Super Saver spent a few weeks at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, after the Kentucky Jockey Club before he rejoined the Pletcher stable at Palm Meadows Training Center.

Pletcher and WinStar Racing Manager Elliott Walden did not decide on a target for his three-year-old debut until the end of February. The Rebel Stakes (G2) on March 13 at Oaklawn Park was a possibility, but instead they opted for the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) the same day.

Heading to Tampa Bay meant a van ride instead of a plane trip and also not as strong of a field, with champion Lookin At Lucky and Grade 1 winners Dublin and Noble’s Promise all headed to the Rebel. 

“I didn’t want to ship him twice and we knew he was getting there but not quite there,” Pletcher said. “It looked like Tampa was a little easier spot, and we’ve had luck there before.”

Pletcher and WinStar had just teamed to win the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) at Tampa the previous month with Rule. They also had gone the same route with Bluegrass Cat and Any Given Saturday, both of whom finished second in the Tampa Bay Derby and went on win the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1).

“We didn’t win all those races but it provided a good steppingstone,” Pletcher said.

Super Saver was caught late in the Tampa Bay Derby and finished third, beaten a half-length.

Jockey Calvin Borel found a new dimension when Super Saver relaxed behind speedy Line of David in the Arkansas Derby, and he was encouraged even though they came up short at the finish line, finishing second by a neck (video).

“I learned a lot from him in the Arkansas Derby,” Borel said on Wednesday. “He had the ability to relax that he didn’t have when I rode him last year. Even though we didn’t win that day, I told Todd he was peaking at the right time.”

Pletcher said Line of David’s strong pace was a big difference in the Arkansas Derby.

“When he went, we sat behind him, and I think [Super Saver] rated very kindly again [in the Kentucky Derby],” Pletcher said. “The key to rating him and all these other ones—it’s not that they are so headstrong—it’s that you have to have a pace. [A half-mile in] :23 and :46 is a lot easier to rate than :48. If you’re trying to grab a hold of them when it’s slow, it’s hard. The last two times, there’s been enough pace for him to sit.”

Pletcher has started four horses in the Preakness. Two of the four—Impeachment in 2000 and Circular Quay in 2006—made the two-week turnaround after competing in the Derby.

Super Saver returned to the track at Churchill on Wednesday, jogging once around the one-mile track under exercise rider Kevin Willey.

“I was actually surprised how good he came out it,” Pletcher told the New York Racing Association’s publicity department on Wednesday. “His energy level is very good and his appetite has been very good. He seems to have taken the race very well. It’s always a concern when you come back in two weeks off a peak effort, but the signs that we’re seeing is that he’s come out it as well as we could hope for.”

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito alluded to the quick turnaround on Wednesday when he and owner Robert LaPenta decided to pass on the Preakness with Derby runner-up Ice Box. The Belmont Stakes (G1) could be next instead.

Trainer Dale Romans may send First Dude to the Preakness along with Paddy O’Prado, the third-place finisher in the Derby. First Dude finished third in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) behind Stately Victor and Paddy O’Prado.

Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) runner-up Bushwhacked has been ruled out of the Preakness after spiking a fever earlier this week. Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up A Little Warm also has been fighting a temperature, but he is still possible for the Preakness.

Trainer Derek Ryan named Eibar Coa to ride Schoolyard Dreams. Coa finished third aboard Musket Man in the Derby and Preakness last year for Ryan.

Turf Melody remains on the fence. He was entered in Saturday’s Dwyer Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer

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