Pletcher Pair Set for Islamorada Handicap

In a barn full of accomplished 3-year-olds, the Todd Pletcher-trained Stanford and Materiality, while talented, have yet to definitively stamp themselves as Triple Crown contenders. They’ll be given the chance to prove themselves worthy of a more aggressive pursuit of the spring classics in Friday’s $60,000 Islamorada Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

“I think that’s what we’re trying to determine in this race, and this race will help decide what their immediate futures are,” Pletcher said. “If they were to both to run well in here, then it could lead them into one of the major preps next time, but if not, then we’ll probably step back and go a little softer route.”

Stanford, a son of Malibu Moon, enters the 1 1/8-mile Islamorada off an impressive allowance score at Gulfstream on Feb. 8 in his sophomore debut and first start since the Saratoga Special (G2) last August. Owned by Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Stonestreet Stables, Stanford received a 92 Beyer Speed Figure for his 1 ½-length victory over stablemate Blame Jim.

Stanford has been assigned highweight of 121 pounds, between three and six pounds more than his five rivals.

Materiality, meanwhile, has just one start under his belt. The $400,000 2-year-old purchase romped in the slop to begin his career, taking a maiden special weight at Gulfstream by 4 ¼ lengths on Jan. 11.

Both have trained steadily at Palm Beach Downs since their respective last races. Stanford turned in a most impressive four-furlong breeze on Feb. 21, clocking in at 47.62 seconds, the fastest of 20 workers that morning. Materiality posted a bullet of his own the following day, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.19.

“They’ve both trained well,” Pletcher said. “In a perfect world, we’d have found an intermediate step between their last races and a mile and an eighth, but this is sort of the only option we had, and we felt like, timing-wise, it was good for both of them. Hopefully, if they perform well, it could lead them into bigger races in their next starts.”

Neither Stanford nor Materiality have ever raced beyond 6 ½ furlongs, but Pletcher has done well stretching his trainees out from sprints to routes. He’s currently winning at a 26-percent clip when making such moves.

“The distance itself isn’t such a concern,” Pletcher said. “It’s just a little concerning from the standpoint that they’ve only had one six-furlong race this year, and Materiality has only had one six-furlong race in his entire career, but historically, those kind of moves of stretching out off one short race has worked out pretty well for us, so hopefully that will be the case here.”

R. A. Hill Stable’s High Noon Rider will also be looking to prove he is deserving of a shot at the Triple Crown trail. The son of Distorted Humor most recently contested Gulfstream’s Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) on Jan. 24 but was pulled up approaching the stretch.

“He’s been doing fine,” trainer George Weaver said. “We really don’t know why he got pulled up. We don’t fault (jockey) Joel (Rosario). Obviously, he felt something. But he’s been training well, so we’ll give it another shot.”

High Noon Rider began his career on turf, but his first victory came when his scheduled start was taken off the grass and run over a fast main track at Aqueduct last November. The colt seemed to relish the move to the new surface, coming away with a game head victory and earning an 85 Beyer, a number 14 points higher than his previous highest race figure. The colt would then remain on the dirt, following up his maiden breaking win with a third-place finish in the Remington Springboard Mile.

“The first time we ran him on the dirt, it was an off-the-turf event, and his biggest race to date,” Weaver said. “So we thought, ‘Well, it’s nice to see what he can do on the dirt,’ so we ran him over at Remington, and he ran well, and we were looking forward to the Holy Bull, but things just didn’t work out. He’s trained well and handled the dirt well. I thought this spot looked like something that wouldn’t be quite as demanding as the Holy Bull and will let us gauge where we are with him.”

Weaver continues to keep his options open with his trainee.

“If he were to win or run a big speed figure and finish second, if he runs a quality race in there, we would definitely think about the ($1 million Besilu Stables) Florida Derby (G1; March 28) and other prep races,” he said.

Also in the Islamorada field are Tradesman, who defeated recent John Battaglia Memorial Stakes winner Royal Son in a maiden contest on Jan. 8, only to be disqualified and placed sixth for interference; Quimet, first and second since switching surfaces to dirt in 2015; and Lucky Delfino.

The Islamorada Handicap is slated for the third race on Friday's 11-race program. First Post Friday is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Source: Gulfstream Park