Life
At Ten and Devil May Care, both possible for the Grade 1 Beldame on
Super Saturday, October 2, will breeze tomorrow, with trainer Todd Pletcher to
later decide whether he will send either contender to the 1 1/8-mile race for
fillies and mares.
“We’ll
see how they come out of it,” said Pletcher. “We may end up entering both.”
Winner
of the Grade 2 Delaware
Handicap in July, Life At Ten finished third in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on
August 29 last time out after dueling with Rachel Alexandra for the early lead.
“Physically
she came out of the race well,” said Pletcher. “We rode her the way we needed
to try to win the race. In retrospect it cost us second place and Rachel
Alexandra a chance to win.”
Devil
May Care, fourth in the Grade 1 Betfair TVG Alabama on August 21, would be
making her first start against older females should she compete in the Beldame.
“She’s
run well here,” said Pletcher of Devil May Care, who won the Grade 1 Mother
Goose at Belmont
in June before going on to capture the Grade 1 Betfair TVG Coaching Club
American Oaks in July. “We know she likes the track.”
Pletcher
could have representatives in all three graded stakes on Sunday, October 3.
Excited,
a half-length winner at Saratoga on August 27 in her lone previous start, is
slated to compete in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo, which will provide the winner an
automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf as part of the
“Win and You’re In” Program.
“We
were pleased with her last effort,” said Pletcher. “She got held up, but she
showed us her gameness.”
Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Volcker,
a maiden, is under consideration for the Grade 3 Pilgrim, a “Win and You’re In”
event for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
“We
thought Volcker ran a winning race last time,” said Pletcher. “If he runs well
in the Pilgrim, we could go to the Breeders’ Cup, but if he doesn’t win, we
could also come back in a maiden race.”
Pletcher
noted how he won the Pilgrim last year with the maiden Eskendereya, who went on
to prevail in this year’s Grade 1 Wood Memorial.
Also
scheduled for October 3 is the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap at one-mile on the main
track for 3-year-olds and up. Le Grand Cru, winner of the Grade 3
Westchester over the Kelso’s course and distance in May, will carry the torch
for the Pletcher barn.