Travers: Pletcher discusses changes for Forte, Tapit Trice

Trainer Todd Pletcher runs his two leading 3-year-old dirt horses, Forte and Tapit Trice, in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Saturday. During a Monday afternoon media teleconference arranged by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Pletcher discussed his plans for that pair, particularly in terms of equipment.

Pletcher plans for both Forte and Tapit Trice to wear blinkers in the Travers. For Forte, the headwear will will not be new, as he also wore blinkers in the Jim Dandy (G2). Even so, Pletcher has continued to experiment, working him once without blinkers after the Jim Dandy and then Saturday with them.

"Irad (Ortiz Jr.) and I have spoken about it quite a bit and felt like in the Florida Derby (G1) that he lost a little bit of focus in the far turn and was able to recover from that and get up for the win. We also felt like he did a little bit of the same thing in the Belmont."

After seeing that kind of behavior in breezes as well, Pletcher decided to try blinkers on the son of Violence.

"He's such a talented horse: everything comes so easy to him that he sometimes gets a little bit distracted," he said. "We trained him a little in the blinkers before the Jim Dandy and we felt like we got the desired effect of giving him a little more focus without making him too headstrong. That's why we decided to put them on for the Jim Dandy. After being able to win that, we're going to leave them on for the time being."

In the Travers, Tapit Trice will wear blinkers for the first time in his career. In his case, the headgear addresses a question of race placement.

"He doesn't have much control about how the race is going to unfold. It looks like Scotland is the primary speed of the race from who we're expecting to enter. We're going to put blinkers on Tapit Trice with hope that it's going to focus him in a little more, hopefully allow him to get into the race a little sooner.

"He's historically been a horse who reacts OK to the doors opening but just doesn't have a lot of gate speed, so he's found himself in a compromised position several times. We're hoping that blinkers can sharpen him up enough to maybe have him laying a bit closer, while certainly we wouldn't expect him to be on or near the lead."

The blinkers will not be the only change Tapit Trice will make in the Travers. Luis Saez, who has been in the saddle for his last five starts, takes the call on Mage instead. Jose Ortiz, who breezed Tapit Trice on Saturday, will have the call in the Travers.

After putting together a four-win streak through the winter into the spring, culminating with a neck victory in the Blue Grass (G1), Tapit Trice has been defeated in his last three starts. He most recently finished fifth in the Haskell (G1). Pletcher is optimistic that these changes can help Tapit Trice put the pieces back together.

"It might be good for him to get a change of equipment and a new rider. Sometimes when you're not having the success you expect from a horse that shows as much talent as Tapit Trice has, then maybe making some changes could produce the desired effect."