He’s won two graded stakes. He’s
trained almost exclusively at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course since
mid-May. And yet Mission Impazible
has yet to race in New
York.
That is all expected to change
when Mission Impazible competes in the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational on August 6.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for Twin Creeks Racing Stables, the son of Unbridled’s
Song won the 2010 Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and this year’s Grade 2 New Orleans
Handicap, both at the Fair Grounds, and was second by a neck after leading in
the final stages of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on
June 18.
“I can’t explain why [he hasn’t
raced in New
York ],” said Pletcher. “We’re hoping he can improve just
a little bit off his narrow defeat in the Foster. He needs to step up, but maybe
with winning the New Orleans Handicap this could put him in the mix [for
Champion Older Horse].”
The August 6 card will also
include the Grade 1, seven-furlong Test for 3-year-old fillies, in which
Pletcher plans to send out Her
Smile, who won the Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont on July 4.
Previously trained by Leigh
Delacour for owner William M. Backer, Her Smile was purchased by celebrity chef
Bobby Flay following a second in the Grade 3 Comely at Aqueduct Racetrack in
April. Subsequently transferred to Pletcher, she finished 11th in the
Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May and third in the Grade 1 TVG Acorn at
Belmont in June
prior to her breakthrough victory in the Prioress.
The six-furlong Prioress was Her
Smile’s first race in a sprint since November 2010, and Pletcher sees the
Include filly remaining at abbreviated distances going forward.
“We want loads of pace in front
of us and to come from off the pace,” said Pletcher.