Red-Hot Pletcher Goes For Gold! Gulfstream Top Trainer +149/1 Treble

Todd Pletcher’s horses at Gulfstream have been red-hot throughout the season and he leads the current meetings standings, edging out other training juggernauts in the shape of Michael Maker and Saffie Joseph.

Having a total of 42 winners since November 29th at the venue, he’s also racked up prize money of $1,758,165. This week, he’s had four runners at Gulfstream, with two winners, a second and a third-place finish. He’s clearly the man to follow at the venue and he has several very good chances tonight at Florida venue, which are analyzed below!

17:00, Maiden Special Weight

Pletcher runs two in the opening $31,500 Maiden Special Weight, with Gimme Some Mo holding the biggest chance according to the market. He’s run three times in his career, finishing second and third at this claiming level on both his starts since debut. He’s clearly progressing and has to be rated as a big danger.

That said, he also runs RHYTHM SECTION, who ran an extremely promising debut when second over the mile here in February and is worth siding with. He swept through the field on the turn and looked the clear winner as they straightened up. He was very green, however, and lugged into his rival when Luis Saez asked him to go by. He finished full of running and with that experience under his belt, he can surely improve a huge amount to take this step up in claiming level in his stride.

21:12, Allowance Optional Claiming

Another race, and another two for Todd Pletcher. This Allowance Optional Claimer is filled with potential talent and is one to watch very closely for the future. His first is Silver Ratio, ridden by Javier Castellano, a winner on debut who finished third at this level when last seen. He had an awful run that day, wide through before finishing a gutsy third. He still looked as though he was learning that day and should improve with further experience.

Once again, however, his stable-mate ridden by Luis Saez is the one to be hedging with. MONEY MOVES made his debut over six furlongs on sloppy dirt, looking beaten as they turned into the straight before turning on the afterburners and winning going away. He should relish this extra yardage and that debut suggested this three-year-old was one to be following. With further progress on the cards, he’s got very strong claims.

22:14, Allowance Optional Claiming

The final race sees Pletcher’s final chance, which is the Phoneix Thoroughbred owner MYSTIC LANCELOT. A winner on debut, he’s not quite gone on from that promise since, but he’s raced at much higher levels and was a close fourth in a stakes race at Keeneland back in October won in record time by Kimari.

Having his second start of the meeting, he was last seen finishing fourth at this level over seven furlongs back in February. He finished off his race in a manner that suggested stepping up to the nine-furlong distance could bring about further improvement. If it did and took him back to any of his peak form, then he’d have a huge chance against this field.