Mr. Online Starts Again in Appleton

Five weeks after having his three-race win streak snapped in the Canadian Turf, Mr. Online returns to make his fourth start at the Champions meet in the one-mile Appleton.            

Trained by Michael Pino for owner Tim O’Donohue, Mr. Online set the pace in the Canadian Turf only to be caught in deep stretch and come up a neck short at the wire to Reload. Runner-up to Phil’s Dream in the Nearctic (G1) at Woodbine last fall, he won the El Prado by a head on Dec. 28 and a starter optional claimer by 2 ¼ lengths on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream.            

Salto finished third, 1 ¾ lengths behind Mr. Online in the Canadian Turf, his second straight graded stakes start. Also trained by Pletcher, the 6-year-old son of Pivotal was second in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3) on Feb. 1 and runner-up to Mr. Online in the El Prado after a neck victory in a 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream allowance in October.            

“He ran very well last time and he’s run well at Gulfstream before, so we’re going to give it a shot,” Pletcher said. “I thought he ran great last time. He had a beautiful trip and he kicked hard; it just seemed at that particular time of the meet, speed was holding up really well on the turf and he just couldn’t quite reel in a couple of those horses up ahead of him. He certainly was finishing very well.”           

Also entered in the Appleton field are Cozzetti, Kharafa, Midnight Cello, Five Iron, Fredericksburg, Grand Tito, Hey Leroy and Tetradrachm. Catron and Csaba are entered for main track only.