Quality Road, Life at Ten readying for Breeders' Cup debuts

Quality Road, shown winning the Metropolitan Handicap, may claim Horse of the Year honors with a victory in the Classic (NYRA/Adam Coglianese)

Given a brief break following his jettisoned attempt at competing in

the 2009 Classic, Quality Road returned to the races in style with

emphatic victories in the Hal's Hope S. (G3) and Donn H. (G1) at

Gulfstream Park. Pletcher knew exactly where he wanted the four-year-old

colt to make his next three starts, the Metropolitan Handicap H. (G1) on

Memorial Day, the Whitney H. (G1) on August 7, and the Woodward S. (G1)

over Labor Day weekend.

"We laid out a schedule last November after we decided to not run in

the Cigar Mile (G1)," Pletcher said. "The Donn is biggest race for older

horses at Gulfstream, and we thought the Met Mile, from a

stallion-making perspective, was a key race. Obviously the Whitney and

Woodward are some of the most significant races on the East Coast for

older horses. We thought he could compete in those races and remain in

peak form."

After winning the Met Mile at Belmont in 1:33.11, tied for the

second-quickest time in the race's history, Quality Road led in deep

stretch of the Whitney at Saratoga before he was tagged late by Blame

(Arch), who got up by a head. Returning from that runner-up effort four

weeks later in the Woodward, Quality Road made amends with a facile 4

3/4-length success, with Blame bypassing the race in favor of the Jockey

Club Gold Cup (G1).

Life at Ten captured the first of her two Grade 1 wins this year in the Ogden Phipps (NYRA/Adam Coglianese)

Pletcher said he had high expectations for Life at Ten after she was

acquired privately following a second in her debut in November 2007, but

the filly underperformed at first, which the trainer largely attributed

to synthetic race tracks. After finishing second in two allowance races

on the dirt at Saratoga and seventh over yielding turf at Belmont, Life

at Ten commenced her turnaround with a victory in an allowance at the

Aqueduct last November.

"We were a little bit frustrated at Saratoga last summer because she

worked extremely well and then finished second twice," Pletcher said.

"Being out of a Rahy mare we thought we should try her on the grass, and

that didn't go well. We ended up running her in a six-furlong

one-other-than (allowance) because the longer race didn't fill, and she

came from off the pace and won. And from that point on, everything fell

into place."

Following her allowance victory with a pair of stakes scores over the

inner track at Aqueduct, Life at Ten then continued her upward ascent by

taking the Sixty Sails H. (G3) at Hawthorne, the Ogden Phipps H. (G1) at

Belmont, and the Delaware H. (G2) at Delaware Park. A third-place finish

in the Personal Ensign S. (G1) at Saratoga snapped her six-race winning

streak, but Pletcher places none of the blame on his filly, who dueled

early with Rachel Alexandra before yielding in the stretch.