You have to give Todd Pletcher credit when it comes to the Breeders' Cup: He's not letting last year's 0-for-17 or other past failures at horse racing's richest day slow him down.
In 2006, Pletcher pre-entered a record 18 horses in the Breeders' Cup World Championships, and this year he has entered 15 for the Oct. 26-27 event at Monmouth Park.
Pletcher, the three-time defending Eclipse Award-winning trainer, has saddled 41 horses overall at the Breeders' Cup, with only two wins, five seconds and three thirds and has never won the $5 million Classic.
However, he will have two of the likely favorites in this year's 1-mile Classic in Lawyer Ron, winner of the Woodward and Whitney and runner-up to Curlin in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Any Given Saturday, winner of the Brooklyn in his last start.
"It's the situation I am in," Pletcher said Wednesday.
“It's fairly simple. We are expected to win, and when we don't win we get criticized. That is the position I want to be in. I'm not going to judge the success of our year on Triple Crown races and Breeders' Cup races. The fact that we show up shows we are doing things right."Perhaps this is Pletcher's time in the Classic, as he did win his first Triple Crown race this year with Rags to Riches at the Belmont Stakes. Pletcher is by far the nation's leading trainer in earnings with more than $23 million, nearly $7 million more than Steve Asmussen.
"I would say we are bringing a pretty strong team this year," Pletcher said. "Certainly, by far, this is the best chance we have ever had in the Classic."
Nine horses were pre-entered for the Classic, with 141 pre-entered in the weekend's 11 races.
Final entries will be taken and post positions drawn for all 11 races next Tuesday at Monmouth Park, which will be hosting the Breeders' Cup for the first time.
Three new Breeders' Cup races - the $1 million Juvenile Turf, $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint, and $1 million Dirt Mile - will be run on Oct. 26. The eight traditional Breeders' Cup races - topped by the $5 million Classic - will be run Oct. 27.
Pletcher has won the Distaff in six tries at the Breeders' Cup, and he has four of the Top 10 in the division in Unbridled Belle, Indian Vale, Octave and Panty Raid, although Panty Raid, winner of the Oct. 7 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, was cross-entered in the Filly and Mare Turf as well.
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