Pletcher and the Man (629 Views)
Posted by:
Chuckles_the_Clown2 (IP Logged)
Date: July 01, 2005 09:36AM
MInfurna Wrote:
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> Its not really hard for Pletcher to spot his
> horses. He has very few claimers in his barn and
> if he does, they are for longstanding clients.
> Ususally, his firsters win first or second out. If
> they are good, they go into stakes and if they are
> average, they go through their allowance
> conditions. Doesn't seem he needs to be an expert
> to spot horses.
Training has always been an experience and patience game, a grey hair's game. Take Afleet Alex's trainer for instance. Ritchey is about 55 years old and has been at it for about 30 years. Its takes that kind of experience to understand that horses are individuals that many times will respond differently to different routines. The whole thing is nonverbal of course and it requires great powers of observation and empathy. Within all of this comes Todd Pletcher who cut his teeth on the routine of the then huge Lukas operation. If there was ever a successful trainer that followed a script it was Wayne Lukas. Bring in the large freshman class, put them all through the same drills and those that don't come down sick or injured play on game day. Pletcher obviously learned Luka's organizational abilitites but somehow in the period of three to four years he completely eclipsed his mentor on the track. Pletcher is a relatively young man, so where did all this training acumen suddenly come from? How was Lukas so quickly marginalized? Add to the equation the fact that at the same time a real grey hair (Bobby Frankel) also began training like he had never trained before. One young, one long in the tooth, but both suddenly having in common, the very top of the earnings list. Anything else in common?
Personally, I'm sick of hearing about quality stock and placement of animals in this matter. Todd Pletcher is still wet behind the ears in this game and cheating shouldn't make it so easy to marginalize trainers that are true horsemen.