Pletcher Horses Prepare for Arkansas Derby Day
Todd Pletcher's trio of hopefuls for the Racing Festival of the South at Oaklawn Park went out for their last preparatory gallops before competing on Saturday's Arkansas Derby Day card, and Blofeld, Gettysburg and Decorated Soldier aced their report cards.
Gettysburg seeks his first stakes win in the 80th edition of the $1 million (G1) Arkansas Derby for WinStar Farms and is 6-1 on the morning line, Glencrest Farm's Blofeld is the 4-1 third choice for the 70th running of the $750,000 (G2) Oaklawn Handicap and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partner's Decorated Soldier is the co-third choice at 4-1 in the 19th running of the $150,000 Northern Spur Stakes.
“They all galloped a nice and easy mile-and-a-quarter, and they couldn't be better," said Adele Bellinger, the assistant trainer and exercise rider for all. “Blofeld is such a pleasure to be on. He's like driving a car. I think they are all ready to run a good race and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.”
Bellinger, who will saddle the group and give a leg up to Hall of Famer John Velazquez on each, tightened the girth on Danza when he was the upset winner of the 2014 Arkansas Derby for Pletcher and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.
The ownership group hopes Decorated Soldier, who is jumping up into stakes company after a dazzling 7 1/2 length maiden win last out at Tampa Bay DownsMarch 12 in only his second start, can carry the stable colors back into the winner's circle.
“Whenever a horse draws off like that in the stretch and really drops his shoulder, and runs to the wire and gallop out like he did while absolutely dominating his competition, you have to appreciate the performance,” said Aron Wellman, the president of the syndicate which merged with Dogwood Stable a few years ago. “It definitely brought a smile to my face. He had been hinting throughout the winter in his training at Palm Beach Downs that he could be a serious racehorse in the making.”
When Pletcher sent the son of Proud Citizen, who was bought for $120,000 as a yearling, to Hot Springs, were there any thoughts of entering him in the Arkansas Derby?
“We had a mild flirtation with the idea but didn't think that it was a prudent move for his long-term development. The Northern Spur at this point is ambitious enough. It's definitely a good field with a lot of nice horses in it. If he jumps through that hoop, then we can get a little more ambitious. This is plenty aggressive for where he is at this juncture of his career,” said Wellman, who oversees the 60-horse enterprise.
Should Decorated Soldier win, Wellman won't be here to accept the trophy. But he has a legitimate excuse as he's staying home in Del Mar, California for the fourth birthday party of his son, Jack.
“We like Hot Springs, Arkansas and Oaklawn Park, that's for sure. We tend to show up for some big races. The first one we came for was Danza's Arkansas Derby and we were very luck there. We weren't so lucky last year with Feathered in the (G3) Fantasy, but we did use that race as a springboard for some great things that she did," he said. “This will be our third consecutive year of bringing something to Oaklawn for the festival, and we hope that Decorated Soldier makes a name for himself on the Derby undercard. This will be a stern challenge for him but we have conviction that he will certainly make his presence felt when it matters most in the race.
Source: Oaklawn Park
2016 Arkansas Derby (G1)