--I'm SO glad I dismissed Todd Pletcher's cold streak at this meeting as a short-term statistical aberration best ignored. Sorry, Jim. The phenomenon has mushroomed into a highly disturbing trend that can not be ignored in daily handicapping. It's one thing when a guy doesn't dominate with 2-year-old firsters the way he once did, given that he had already cracked out his best ones before Saratoga and still dominates the division. But in recent days, some of his proven older horses have thrown in dismal performances at very short odds in spots where they figured to gallop. J'Ray couldn't have been worse in Saturday's Yaddo, and Wingspan was 1-5 on paper in today's third race and ran like she would have been an underlay at 5-1.

It's easy to pile on unfairly in these situations. You can't add Octave to the list because she ran her usual race and actually ran pretty well considering her trip in the Alabama. Lawyer Ron and Ready's Image couldn't have run any better than they did opening week. Still, when those two return in the Whitney Woodward and Hopeful closing weekend, bettors are probably going to be more skeptical than they would have been a couple of weeks ago. After performances like J'Ray's and Wingspan's, it's understandable