NEWS

Racing News

Industry News

Most Popular Stories

Most E-mailed Stories

Super Saver showing Pletcher right
signs approaching Preakness

Posted: Sunday, May 09, 2010 5:56 PM

by Mike Curry

Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Super Saver is scheduled for his only serious workout in preparation for the Preakness Stakes (G1) on Monday at Churchill Downs.

Judging by the way Super Saver has bounced out of the classic win, trainer Todd Pletcher is optimistic approaching the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

“[Super Saver] has come out of the Derby really good,” Pletcher said. “So far, he’s exceeded expectations in terms of the way he’s come out of it. His energy level has been great, his appetite has been really good, he’s been really enthusiastic, and we really like the way he’s been training. So we’re real pleased.

“We’re going to give him a breeze on Monday; we’re not looking for much,” Pletcher added. “Calvin [Borel] will be up for the breeze and most likely he’ll go right after the [renovation] break at 8:30 a.m. [EDT]. Calvin is a very talented rider, and he’s worked a lot of horses and he’s very good at it. He worked him perfectly before the Derby. It’ll give him a little feel as to how the horse is doing. Anytime you can get to know him a little better, it might pay dividends in the race.”

Pletcher said he knows the Preakness, a 1 3/16-mile race on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, is a much different test than the Derby. But he believes two of Super Saver’s best assets—tractable speed and the proven ability to run well going a route of ground—will be just as important in the Preakness as they were in the Kentucky Derby (video).

“Obviously, we won’t have 20 horses, but I think it gets lost in the shuffle a little bit that it’s still a mile and three sixteenths,” Pletcher said. “Everyone acts like it’s backing way up. We’re still running farther than any of them had ever run before the Derby, so it’s still a mile and three sixteenths and you need the right kind of horse to do that.

“I think he’s got a big chance to win at Pimlico. ... I wouldn’t trade places with anyone, especially going to Pimlico and backing up a little bit of distance. I think he’s got a tactical edge because he’s not relying on the trip like many of the rest of them. If it’s a slow pace, he’ll be there. If it’s a fast pace, he can settle like he did [in the Derby]. Something that was overlooked in the Derby is that everyone made it out to be that this horse didn’t get a great trip and that horse didn’t get a good trip. Super Saver was able to get a great trip because he was able to put himself in all the right spots, and every time Calvin needed him to do something, he did it.”

Super Saver, a well-balanced Maria’s Mon colt owned by breeder WinStar Farm galloped 1 1/8 miles on Sunday at Churchill under exercise rider Kevin Willey and visited the starting gate.

“He was well behaved at the gate,” Pletcher said. “He was calm, cool, and collected. He is very professional and has always been that way. It is a huge edge when you have a horse with talent that also has the proper mind-set.”

Super Saver is slated to be shipped from Churchill to Pimlico on Wednesday.

Pletcher sent out Preakness hopeful Aikenite for a planned workout on Sunday, and the multiple Grade 1-placed Yes It’s True colt breezed five furlongs in company with stablemate Megaholtz in 1:01.40. The drill ranked ninth of 19 timed moves at the distance.

Aikenite posted one-furlong fractions of :12.60, :25.20, :37.60, and :49.40 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:15. Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite enters the Preakness off a runner-up finish in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial Stakes (G3) on April 24 at Churchill (video).

“He broke off a couple lengths behind Megaholtz and they finished on even terms,” Pletcher said. “It was a good work, typical of how he works, and he had a solid gallop out. He will walk [Monday] and go back to the track Tuesday.”

Florida Derby (G1) runner-up and Derby Trial third-place finisher Pleasant Prince also completed his major workout in preparation for the Preakness. The Indy King colt breezed five furlongs in :59 on Sunday at Keeneland Race Course for trainer Wesley Ward.

Pleasant Prince’s workout ranked second of seven timed drills at the distance.

In other Preakness news, Grade 1 winner Dublin will have the services of two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Garrett Gomez, who was aboard champion Lookin At Lucky for his troubled sixth-place finish in the Derby.

Amid swirling rumors on Saturday that trainer Bob Baffert was considering switching jockeys for Lookin At Lucky, the Racing Hall of Fame trainer declined to confirm a change for the Smart Strike colt. Baffert said that he had not yet decided if Lookin At Lucky would even go on to the Preakness, so he had no reason to even discuss who would have the mount.

Instead, the news came Sunday from Dublin’s trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, who said locking up Gomez for Dublin was a no-brainer.

“If Peyton Manning is available, you are not going to leave him in the locker room,” Lukas said.

Baffert was critical of Gomez’s rides aboard Lookin At Lucky in his third-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby. On Sunday, Baffert explained how the jockey change unfolded.

“I talked with Garrett a few days ago,” Baffert said. “I told him that we’ve just been having such bad luck and I wasn’t sure if I was going to run, so I wanted to give him a chance to find another mount. And if I did run, I was maybe going to replace him only just to change our luck.

“He was good about it because we’re good friends. I wanted to try something different one time and see. Maybe we’ll draw better or do something. I’m just trying to change our luck.”

Baffert said he is leaning toward starting Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness, and if he does, Martin Garcia will have the mount.

“I’m going to wait until [Monday] to make the decision, but right now, he’s getting stronger every day,” Baffert said. “I’m leaning toward it, but I’m just not sure. Everybody is trying to nail me down, but I don’t want to say yes today, because I’ve been known to change my mind quite often.”

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor