With seven Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer, a pair of Kentucky Derby wins, three Belmont Stakes and now 11 Breeders’ Cup victories, Todd Pletcher is a sure member of racing's Hall of Fame once eligible.
Yet with all his success in two-plus decades of training, one rather significant gap had remained on Pletcher’s resume: a Breeders’ Cup Classic victory. On Saturday, that void was filled emphatically when Vino Rosso rolled to a 4 ½-length win at Santa Anita Park.
Pletcher acknowledged the omission of a Classic win to his career achievements while basking in the winner’s circle Saturday, very much like fellow future Hall of Famer and longtime rival Bob Baffert did following Bayern’s win in the 2014 Classic. Of course, Baffert then went on to add two more Classic wins with American Pharoah in 2015 and Arrogate in 2016.
Mike Repole, who co-owns Vino Rosso with Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, made a point of acknowledging Pletcher’s latest career achievement in the post-race press conference.
"This one really is for Todd,” Repole said.
From 2004 to 2014, the Pletcher stable reached another stratosphere of success when racking up those seven Eclipse Awards, which is the most by any trainer in history.
Despite that remarkable run of success, critics have increasingly pointed out in recent year Pletcher’s relative lack of success with older dirt horses. In addition, Pletcher has seemingly been surpassed by trainer Chad Brown as New York's training kingpin.
In both 2016 and 2017, Pletcher was second to Brown in trainer earnings for the season. In the past two seasons, Pletcher has also been on Brown’s heels in that category with only Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen between them in seasonal earnings.
None of this was lost on Repole.
“He hasn’t won like 50 Grade 1s every year, maybe the last 18 months, and maybe some people have forgot a little bit [about him],” Repole said of Pletcher. “But Vinnie and I have been here every step of the way. He’s here at the Classic and there’s a reason why he’s standing here.”
Pletcher has been widely credited for his handling of Vino Rosso this season. Most notably, it was a his shrewd decision to send Vino Rosso west this past spring for a start in the 1 ¼-mile Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1), a race he would ultimately win. In addition to a Grade 1 win and six-figure purse, the trip also provided Pletcher with a clear path to success in the Classic.
“I mean, to bring this horse out here five and a half months ago -- Vinnie and I don't ship a lot of horses to California,” Repole said. “It was a reason, it was a purpose: Grade 1, mile and a quarter, on this track, so we can do what we just did today. Pretty exciting.”
Pletcher indicated he was as confident heading into the Classic as he’d ever been for a big race, noting Vino Rosso was training lights out at Belmont Park and “was crawling out of his skin, literally.” Vino Ross’s previous success at Santa Anita just added to the excitement level for his connections.
“[The Gold Cup] gave us confidence that the horse handled the track; we knew he would love a mile and a quarter,” Pletcher said. “But also, for me, you’re always trying to figure out, when’s the best time to ship? Do we want to ship five days out? Do we want to work over the track?
“But we had a blueprint in place that worked,” Pletcher continued. “So we tried to follow that pattern exactly, and we did.”
Pletcher's handling of Vino Rosso this season resulted in a record of 3-1-1 in six starts -- which includes the controversial disqualification to second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) -- and earnings of $3,960,625.
The son of Curlin out of the Street Cry mare Mythical Bride will retire to Spendthrift Farm in central Kentucky with a career mark of 6-1-3 in 15 starts and earnings of $4,803,125.
