Quality Road gallops for Pletcher

Quality Road excelled this winter in Florida, recording impressive wins in the Florida Derby and Fountain of Youth (Gus Gustafson/Horsephotos.com)

QUALITY ROAD (Elusive Quality) had his first gallop Tuesday morning since

being transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher from the barn of Jimmy Jerkens on

Monday. The three-year-old colt galloped a mile and a quarter under exercise

rider Hector Ramos.

"He's a very good horse and we just hope we can do as well as Jimmy did with

him," Pletcher said. "We're familiarizing ourselves with him and trying to get

him into a work program. Mr. Evans had talked about the (August 1) Jim Dandy (S.

[G2]) and we'll see if we can try to have him ready for that. We know how

talented he is -- we've seen him run."

Quality Road's last start came in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park

on March 28, in which he defeated new stablemate, Dunkirk (Unbridled's Song).

Quality Road was forced to skip a planned run in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May

2 after developing a quarter crack in his right-front hoof the week before the

race. He recently returned to training, breezing three furlongs in :38 4/5 on

June 8.