Royal Ascot still in the plans for once-beaten Bulletin

Bulletin remains on track for a Royal Ascot start, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday, after the colt suffered his first career defeat over the weekend at Churchill Downs.

The son of City Zip — a winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint over the same course — broke on top in the William Walker Stakes but hit the wire fourth as an odds-on favorite.

“We ran him back 23 days, and I think the turf course had a bit of give to it,” Pletcher said. “The one hole, sometimes, it can be a little boggy down inside. More than anything, he was just a little flat.

“He ran really well at Keeneland off the layoff, and I think maybe we just brought him back a little too quick.”

In that Keeneland start, Bulletin on April 4 ran some of his William Walker rivals off their feet, winning the Palisades Turf Sprint by an easy 1 1/2 lengths. Afterward, connections indicated Royal Ascot’s Commonwealth Cup (G1) could be in order this summer.

Pletcher said he spoke Wednesday with Elliott Walden, the WinStar Farm president and CEO who manages the ownership group that also includes China Horse Club and SF Racing.

“We’re not off that schedule,” Pletcher said of Royal Ascot. “He needs to train accordingly, but right now we still have that in mind.”

Bulletin is 3-for-4 now in his career having also debuted a winner last Sept. 29 of Gulfstream Park’s Hollywood Beach Stakes.