Strong Contender
 

Impressive today. Don't hold the slow time against him, as all the times have been ridiculously sluggish at Bel today. NY-bred AOC was run in 1:28 for seven panels a race earlier, and before that, NY-bred N1X'ers ran 5 1/2 in 1:07.

Strong Contender
 

...Nice effort...he finally put it all together....nice colt and a damn good looker...good win today...

..As for Keyed Entry, I really thought they might ruin him by running in the Derby and it looks like I might have been right....two scratches and now this effort...too bad...he is a nice horse and would have probably won the Derby Trial and Woody Stephens had they done right by the horse and kept him around one turn and just run Sunriver in the Derby instead....

hey team have you ever seen The Company Boar's Head Provision in Brooklyn on Rock Street? I work for them and I was wondering if you have eaten our Deli meat growing up in NY? They say it's all over the Deli's in New York. Just a question buddy. Thanks.

I'm not from NY but I've been eating Boar's Head since my first job in a gourmet food store...it's hard to find but well worth it.

They'd be right. I'd say about 75% of the meat from the Delis I frequent is Boar's Head. Tough to beat it.

Boars Head is hands down the best. It's all I'll eat. Once you have the best it's hard to have anything else.

Keyed Entry was done a massive disservice by that Derby run. He had no chance and he ran to it. Pissing contest and the horse comes out the loser.

You are absolutely right, and I love Todd, but you are right. After showing twice he wants no part of two turns, they threw him to the wolves. I hope he gets a breather and we'll see him in the late season sprints. I think he would fit perfectly in a race like the Cigar Mile.

The great Todd Pletcher blew it with this horse. I really hope the owners pushed him into the derby because that race ruined that horse.

Without knowing for sure, I think they did. It's that Derby fever.

Had to be the owners in my opinion but the Pletcher ass kissing on this site is ridiculous. Win a Classic race before we start making him out to be Lukas or Baffert.

With all due respect, he has run second twice, and the run he has been on in the last 5 years or so has been nothing short of remarkable. Pletcher's only been training for about 10 years, and I challenge you to find someone with a more influential 10 years. Look how long it took Bobby Frankel, or Neil Drysdale to get a classic win. Pletcher will get his, no doubt, but you can't say the man isn't an incredible trainer because he hasn't won a classic.

Pletcher has been in the business since he was a young guy. His dad is JJ Pletcher. Baffert and Lukas worked their way up. Pletcher is actually one of the Lukas guys but you already knew that.

lukas worked his way up, baffert had a hand after starting as a QH trainer and pegram deciding to move into t'breds.
not sure why hoist seems so anti-pletcher, he learned from one of the best and has paid his dues as well. any successes he deserves, he's got a tremendous work ethic.
he doesn't have a classic win YET, but it will come.

It is a bit over the top at times.

He's a very good trainer, and a great businessman who has managed to amass just about every thoroughbred running in the US, but the " Todd is so great " posts get a bit wearinsome at times.

I'm a horseplayer....I will only make money beating a trainer who seems to run the favorite in just about every race. Thus I find myself rooting for him about as often as Haley's Comet shows up.

Baffert was a jockey, you don't pay your dues better than that. I am not anti-pletcher, but you guys are like professional ass kissers. There are entire threads to how great he is because he won with a bunch of horses, one being 1-9. The guy continues to fail to win the big ones. 0 for 51 is not some coincidence. Calling him the modern day silver fox is nonsense.

Exactly. Pletcher is a very good trainer, might be great one day, but enough with the praise for a guy who wins with the top horse flesh. Win a classic too. Any classic.

Yeah I knew that, but thanks teach for the lesson. He has been out on his own for 10 years. But while we are at it, any coincidence that during Lukas golden run, he had Pletcher, McLaughlin, Stewart, and so on and so on as his assistants. These guys are among the best now, so that must be noted.

So Breeders Cup races don't matter huh? I think too much empasis is placed on the "classics". they are 3 races during an entire year. Look at what he does during the year, it's impressive.

Yep, we've seen so many that have been ruined in the Derby.....it is a shame...look how well Songandaprayer is doing at stud...it is realistic to believe that had he not been forced on the Derby trail setting a 44 second half-mile that he would have developed into a far better sprinter than he turned out to be....what a waste

Dallas Stewart is among the best now?

well, i'm not one who has ever come on here gushing over the guy, i just take exception to your opinion that only a classic win makes a top trainer. you'd get that from me regardless of trainer mentioned. boy, you like to paint a wide group with your brush, don't you?

Won the Oaks this year, and is a damn good trainer. 18% on the year, not too shabby in my opinion.

Money won and Eclipse Awards count too, last time I looked.

They are all really good trainers, including Pletcher, but Baffert and Lukas never went 0-51 in the most important races of the year. They dominated those races. Their percentages are incredible. Pletcher is excellent but he has excellent horse flesh. I think Frankel is excellent too but until he won with Empire Maker and then the BC Classic it was hard to put him in there with Baffert and Lukas. Pletcher might get there but he isn't the modern day silver fox.

He's an OK trainer who has probably underachieved with the stock he has gotten. I'm not knocking him but saying he is " one of the best " is absurd.

I have to agree with this statement...I like the dude and think he's one helluva horseman, but why all the priase?...With the horseflesh he gets year-in and year-out he arguably is just doing average with his stock...I'm not saying he's doing poorly, but give any other good horseman his stock and see how well they would do with it....It's not like he has two or three Classic victories...he didn't even win a BC race until 2004.....he's a good trainer - make no mistake about it....but to praise him for being a dynamite conditioner may be like Jor Torre for being a great baseball coach...you better be half decent when yoour owners surround you with the best talent in the game...the thing I respect about him is his political abilities...he has somehow lured in the Jones, Overbrook, Padua, the Melnyks, Coolmore, WinStar and many other top owners - which is amazing to me....If I was a big-time owner I would probably want to be the lone big fish in the pond but instead he has found a way to marry running of of these nice horses from different big-time operations without conflict of playing favorites, etc.....that is what I most admire about the guy to be honest...He wil win a classic and probably multiple Classics, but how couldn't you with that stock?

Leroy Jolley won Classics, Jack Van Berg won Classics, and Bill Turner won Classics.....just goes to show that anybody is dangerous with good horses....

I think he is better than ok, and he hasn't really underachieved, but great trainers overachieve. Win the derby with a $17,000 purchase or do something like that. Pletcher is a great organizer and horseman but he seems to lack that little extra Lukas and Baffert had/have.

I just don't think that the triple crown are the most important races of the year. They only deal with 3 year olds, and as you know that leaves out every other category there is. Pletcher's horse flesh is no different than Lukas and Baffert had, or Frankel for that matter.

I was referring to Dallas Stewart.

I agree and I personally like Dallas..............

I personally like him as well.

But hey, some of my best friends are failures:D

Not that he is a failure by any means. But, a lot of my friends.....

Okat let me ask you this what do you think of Shug McGaughey? Because no one has been blessed with more blue bloods then this man. Dallas is a hell of a guy, and a fine trainer.

Shug? As fine a trainer as there has ever been...and unlike a lot of trainers ( without naming names )....he doesn't cheat. The guy was great even before training all those champions for the Phipps. Vanlandingham anyone?

As for Dallas being a " hell of a guy "...in my minimal interaction with him I couldn't agree more. " Fine trainer "? Debatable but I guess he's OK. However...please retract the " one of the best " comments. He isn't and has no results to back that up.

He doesnt win very often(dallas, not shug) at the highest level. He won the Oaks this year but seriously, he has 3 lifetime grade one wins, never has trained a champ, and has been on his own for 9 years now which is just not all that special when you consider the stock he has had. You trying to tell me that a guy who is on his own for 9 years and has 3 grade one wins and no champs with all those nice horses is a "great" trainer, geez, I don't get that at all.

And Shug is on of the sport's all time greats, and I agree with everything Blackthroat said about him.

I actually said among the best, and would you disagree that Pletcher and McLaughlin aren't? Come on Kieran got that "classic" win. But while you bash Todd, with the flesh Shug gets, I would expect better results.

Never said he was great but was making the point that he was instumental in Lukas's success, ask D. Wayne. I think Shug has underachieved, because he is blessed year in and year out with the best flesh on the planet.

Shug has had remarkable results.

If you are going to continue to insist that Dallas Stewart is " among the best " I am taking my ball and going home. Just say you were overzealous and get it over with.

I like Kiaran, he is a great guy, and he does a very good job. Among the best? I don't even think he would agree with that. But he certainly gets the job done and I can imagine anyone would be more than happy if he was their trainer.

By the way, I never " bashed " Pletcher and never would.

Dallas is most definitely not among the best. Better results from Shug? Are you kidding me?
Well lets see, ahem, EIGHT CHAMPIONS!!!!! for starters(you defend dallas who has NONE), 2nd all time with Breeders Cup wins to only D wayne, Lord knows how many grade ones.
And hey, Blackthroat may get a kick out of this, on a fall day at Belmont Park
in 1993 Shug McGaughey won as many grade one races as Dallas Stewart has won in his career. Umm, are we about done with this argument now?