Trainer Todd Pletcher trains several 3-year-olds who are on the Florida
Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) trails. Thunder Moccasin, who will
make his second lifetime start in Saturday’s $150,000 Hutcheson (G2),
isn’t one of them.
“I think he gets seven-eighths to a mile; after that I’d be a little
bit surprised (if he was as effective going longer),” Pletcher said.
“He’s pretty forward and ambitious early, so I think he’s a sprinter.
That’s the feeling that he gives us at the barn.”
Thunder Moccasin, who scored a dazzling debut victory at Gulfstream on
Christmas Eve, has been installed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite for
the seven-furlong Hutcheson.
“This is kind of an ambitious move, making a graded-stakes start after
just one maiden start,” Pletcher said. “But he’s training forwardly and
he’s training professionally.”
Thunder Moccasin set all the pace under jockey John Velazquez in his
debut, scoring by 2 ½ lengths over next-out winner Ender Knievel while
completing 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15 4/5.
“It seemed to be a key race – both the second- and third-place
finishers came back to win, so I feel like it’s a good calculated risk,”
Pletcher said.
The eight-time defending Gulfstream training champion, who is well on
his way to another title this season, expects Thunder Mountain to go
right to the lead at the start of the Hutcheson.
“I believe that’s going to be his running style,” Pletcher said. “He’s
pretty forward and quick away from the gate, so we’ll let him do his
thing.”
Pletcher Closing in on 3,000 Career Wins Milestone
Virtually every weekend is a big one for trainer Todd Pletcher’s
powerful stable as he continues to add to his certain Hall of Fame
resume, and he will almost certainly hit the lofty 3,000 career victory
mark in the next few days, most likely at Gulfstream Park as he goes
into Thursday’s card with 2,994 wins.
Pletcher has runners entered in three races here Thursday, three more
on Friday and seven races on Saturday. Although his largest string of
more than 100 horses spends the winter at Gulfstream’s Palm Meadows
Training Center, he maintains a division in New York at Belmont Park and
has one horse entered in a race Friday at Aqueduct and two more there
on Saturday.
The stable will have contenders in three of the four graded stakes
races to be run Saturday at Gulfstream, led by Twin Creeks Racing
Stable’s 5-year-old Mission Impazible in the $500,000 Donn Handicap
(G1), a race he won twice previously with Harlan’s Holiday in 2003 and
Quality Road in 2010.
The $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) is one of the few major
events on the track’s stakes schedule that Pletcher has not won
officially, but the stable will have a solid chance to add that race to
his credentials with Black Rock Stable’s 4-year-old Silver Medallion.
Pletcher sent out Take the Points to finish first in the 2010 edition
only to watch from the winner’s circle as he was disqualified for
interference in the stretch.
Pletcher sends out Starlight Racing’s 3-year-old Thunder Mocassin as
one of the favorites in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (G2), a race he
has won six times previously. The first came with More Than Ready in
2000 (dead-heat) and five straight from 2003-2007. Pletcher sent out
Travelin Man to finish second in the Hutcheson last year, and he is
scheduled to make his 2012 season debut in Thursday’s third race
allowance feature.