Pletcher Off to a Hot Start in South Florida
Red Oak Stable homebred Daring Bride overcame a change of surface and her own greenness to capture her career debut Sunday and continue trainer Todd Pletcher’s hot start to the 2015-16 Championship Meet.
Ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Daring Bride, a juvenile daughter of Scat Daddy, rated at the back of a tight bunch in the early going before taking command on the outside rounding the far turn and drawing away down the stretch.
As she raced alone to the wire, Daring Bride ($2.80) ducked in toward the rail before finishing in 1:47.28 for 1 1/16 miles on the main track after the $50,000 maiden special weight was rained off the turf course. She went off as the 3-5 favorite in a field of five.
“We felt like she was a filly that wanted two turns, so that’s why we went to the grass first time out. A lot of the Scat Daddys are taking to the grass. We figured she’d been training well so we’d go ahead and give it a try off the turf and she handled almost everything well,” Pletcher said. “She got a little green down the lane, which made me nervous for a moment there and sure made Johnny a lot nervous. She said, ‘I thought we were supposed to be on the grass.’”
Bidding for a 13th consecutive Championship Meet training title, Pletcher has won with three of his first four starters, all of them 2-year-olds. Stradivari and Zulu took the first two races on Saturday’s opening day Claiming Crown program.
“It’s a long meet but we’ve got some 2-year-olds turning 3 that we’re pleased with the way they’re training. It’s always exciting in those situations, and we always look forward to Gulfstream,” he said.
Stradivari, a son of Grade 1 winner Medaglia d’Oro out of Grade 2-winning mare Bending Strings, rolled by 11 ¼ lengths in his second start and first going a route of ground. Zulu, a $900,000 son of champion Bernardini, was a two-length winner in his debut at six furlongs. Velazquez was aboard both horses, each of which Pletcher said would likely come back in an allowance race.
“Both of them came back very well. I’m very pleased with the way both of them ran. We were expecting an improved effort from Stradivari. We thought he was a horse that was looking for two turns,” Pletcher said. “Zulu, we have high hopes for him and we thought it was a promising debut. We’d seen some works from him that indicated he was talented. He had also shown a little greenness which I think he showed a little bit in the race. When things got a little tight around the turn he looked like he kind of wanted to ease himself out of there. Johnny had to shake him up a little bit, and he responded well.”
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Source: Gulfstream Park