In figure and pattern terms, Pletcher and Frankel are very similar. Their horses come out and ran a big number within the first two starts of a campaign, and seldom do a large amount of developing within the same campaign. At the other end of the spectrum was someone like Zito, but he's changed his pattern, and it remains to be seen how that will work out.

This pattern with Pletcher and Frankel is even more pronounced with older horses because with younger ones there is some degree of natural development that takes place as the year goes on, but within that range those trainers horses will develop a lot less than average because they are pushed to perform fresh-- they don't run themselves into shape.



TGJB