|
|
Pletcher looks ahead to Classic for Quality Road; Lukas ponders Mine That Bird Trainer Todd Pletcher was delighted to report Sunday morning that QUALITY ROAD (Elusive Quality) exited his victory in Saturday's Woodward S. (G1) in excellent shape and would next return to Belmont Park to prepare for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs on November 6. For video of Quality Road and Pletcher on Sunday morning, please click here. "I think there was a lot more in the tank based on the way he came back; he was hardly even blowing," Pletcher said. "He made the lead kind of easily, and coasted home from the eighth-pole. He was prepared to run a lot faster had it been necessary, but when you're 4 3/4 lengths clear, it's hard to ask for a whole lot more." The win was Quality Road's fourth in five starts this year, and third in a Grade 1 along with the Met Mile and the Donn H., and puts the Edward P. Evans color-bearer solidly back in the picture for Horse of the Year honors. "I think winning the Woodward was an important race for championship honors," Pletcher said. "Usually, the last race they run is the most important, and with the last one being the Breeders' Cup that one is going to carry the most weight of all. But his body of work this year has been impressive, and that will carry a lot of weight at the end, too." In the Classic, Quality Road will be coming off a 63-day layoff and running over a distance at which he has yet to win. In two tries at 1 1/4 miles last season, Quality Road finished third in the Travers S. (G1) and second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) behind three-year-old champion Summer Bird. "I think if he gets the 1 1/4 miles, he can do it with the time in between," Pletcher said. "For me statistically, we've always done well with that kind of time frame, so we'd like to come into the biggest and most important race with what we do best. Our horses tend to run their best races with that kind of spacing between them." As for the distance, Pletcher pointed out that both defeats came over sloppy racetracks. "The Jockey Club Gold Cup was not a bad race," he said. "I think he gets the 1 1/4 miles; obviously, we'd just like to do it on a fast surface." Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who outfitted 2009 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone) with blinkers and changed jockeys for the Woodward, said he was encouraged by the way the gelding stayed closer to the pace in Saturday's race. "I was really pleased with the way he laid up there so easy at the first part of the race, but he didn't kick it in at the end -- he just ran evenly," Lukas said, referring to his fading to finish last of seven. "I might try him shorter, too. Everyone keeps thinking he's a 1 1/4-mile horse, but I might try him at a mile if I could find a decent race. At a mile he might show more finish. He's a work in progress, let me tell you. He's perfectly sound, he's physically better than he's ever been, but we're not getting the job done." Although winless since taking the Run for the Roses at 50-1 last May, Mine That Bird is far from retirement, Lukas said. "He's a gelding -- we're not going to give him to the orphanage," he said. "He might end up retiring to New Mexico to be a lawn ornament, but at this point we're going to try and make him useful."
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
