Discreetly Mine Eyes BC Sprint
Trainer Todd Pletcher reported that Discreetly Mine, front-running winner of the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, came out of his 1 ¼ -length victory in good order and would most likely train up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“He came out of it very well,” said Pletcher. “We felt kind of handcuffed the way we were going to approach the race, based on the way the track seemed to be playing, so it was a pretty courageous effort to go as fast as he did and keep going.”
The trainer also said that while Phola and Katy Now exited their 8th- and 4th-place finishes in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa and Grade 3 Victory Ride, respectively, in good shape, he remained puzzled and disappointed with Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver’s 10th place finish in the Travers.
“We’re going to do some diagnostics, either here or at a clinic,” said the trainer. “Obviously that was not up to standards. Maybe there is something going on that we can’t see. He seems OK this morning, nothing dramatically wrong, but maybe there is something underneath that we are not seeing.”
Pletcher added that he was very happy with the performance by Uncle Mo, an eye-catching 14 ¼-length winner of his debut in Saturday’s fifth race.
“It was pretty exciting,” he said of the 2-year-old son of Indian Charlie, owned by Repole Stables. “He had trained really, really well all summer and we were encouraged by some of his workmates running well, and we expected him to run well, but that was even more than we anticipated or hoped for.”
Pletcher said Uncle Mo would likely be pointed to the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park.
Sunday morning, Pletcher had Quality Road breeze five furlongs over the main track with jockey John Velazquez aboard as he put the finishing touches on the colt’s preparations for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward.
The 4-year-old Elusive Quality colt went in 1:00.05, fastest of 15 at the distance.
“We were looking for 1:01,” said Pletcher. “He worked well, and galloped out strongly, so we were pleased.”