Pletcher Seeking Belmont Stakes 'Three-peat'

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) twice and finished second four times, has three opportunities to improve on that record in the June 6 renewal of the classic at Belmont Park.



As of May 31, Pletcher plans to run Carpe Diem, Madefromlucky, and Materiality in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont and will make rider decisions by June 2.



The three, who breezed May 29, walked the shedrow Sunday, as Pletcher continued preparations for his stable that will have as many as 19 runners during the June 5-6 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

 

Carpe Diem, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) winner owned by WinStar Farm and Stonestreet Stables, sat out the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) after finishing 10th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).



Alto Racing's Materiality also sat out the Preakness after he got off to a poor start and finished well to be sixth in the Derby.



Madefromlucky, owned by Cheyenne Stables and Mac Nichol, ran fourth in American Pharoah's Arkansas Derby (gr. I) win and then won the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) at Belmont, the same race used by Tonalist as a prep for his 2014 Belmont victory.



"I can't make an excuse for Carpe Diem (in the Derby), other than the fact he may not have relished the Churchill Downs surface," Pletcher said. "We've seen horses over the years who didn't like it in the past.



"Materiality unfortunately missed the break (in the Derby), but closed well after that. Both have trained well since the Derby. Madefromlucky has a win over the (Belmont) track in the Peter Pan, which has been a good Belmont prep in years past, so that's encouraging. We think he'll handle the mile and a half."



In addition to not having his jockey assignments, Pletcher said he will await the June 3 post position draw to try to come up with a race strategy for each in the Belmont.



Pletcher won his first Belmont with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007 and in 2013 he sent out Palace Malice for his second win in the classic.

 

His runner-up efforts were with Bluegrass Cat   (2006), Dunkirk (2009), Stay Thirsty   (2011), and Commissioner (2014).



"Commissioner's beat last year was as tough of a beat you will take in any race, much less a classic," Pletcher said. "To essentially lead every step of the way, except for the last one—that was a tough beat.

 

"Stay Thirsty's beat was actually pretty tough, too," he continued. "And Dunkirk, he ran very well, and led most of the way. Our results overall have been very good (in the Belmont), but we're kind of a length away from having won four or five of these."

 

In addition to his Belmont three, here are Pletcher's other Belmont Festival probables:



June 5: Uncle Vinny, $250,000 Tremont Stakes; Enchantress, $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes; Eastwood and Rock Fall, $250,000 True North (gr. II); and Red Rifle and Unitarian, $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational.



June 6: Micromanage and Coach Inge, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational (gr. II); Stopchargingmaria, $1 million Ogden Phipps (gr. I); General a Rod and Jack Milton, $1 million Knob Creek Manhattan Stakes (gr. IT); Competitive Edge and Two Weeks Off, $500,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (gr. II); Curlina, $750,000 Acorn Stakes (gr. I); and Stanford and Nonna's Boy, $150,000 WinStar Farm Easy Goer Stakes.

The New York Racing Association Belmont Stakes notes team contributed to this report.