Pletcher - Barn Virus?
 

Pletcher admits there is a virus impacting his barns and suggests he has those affected in quarantine.

I posted this on Twitter and feel it's worth discussing.

He had 12 runners on Saturday. 3 wins and 5 last place finishes. Six last place finishes if you consider Effinex to be a non runner. Nevertheless, if you wagered $2 to win on all of his entries ($24 total) you would have gotten a healthy $43.50 in return.

If you toss the horses in the $1 Million Grade 1 races - You get 3 wins and 3 last place finishes. Investment of $16 returns the same $43.50.

So are the results on Saturday potentially due to a virus, testing or just normal all or nothing from the barn??

Effinex is trained by Jimmy Jerkens.

I was thinking the same thing when I first read it, but after reading it again, I think he is referring to Micromanage finishing second to last as effectively last because Effinex was pulled up. Of course, Micromanage was compromised by Effinex taking him out wide so there appears to be some excuse for his finish other than a virus.

Steve, any word as to how Effinex came out of the race?

I know. And he finished last according to the chart because he nearly hit the fence and was eased up. If you don't count him as a runner then Micromanage would have finished last and thus TAP would have had the last place runner in six races.

I guess my real concern from a horse playing standpoint is how do we know who was impacted by the virus vs just didn't run. It's not only important for the current race but also the next race for several from his barn who just didn't run. Competitive edge most notably. Is he that bad?

The game is hard enough as is.

Yea it sure would be great to find out which horses are turning up sick now.Thats why it is nice in places like Hong Kong where when an odds on runs up the track the judges investigate and results are posted in public for all to see.

Horses come out of races with infections and virus' often where the vets and trainer don't know about it until they run so poorly without an apparent excuse that they scope the horse after the race to find the problem. That has been going on forever.

Absolutely. The point is that we the bettor should be informed and not after the horse's next race when there is a huge turn around that only insiders can cash on.

i think it's the badroi virus...

I agree. Your point is well taken. There should be a public vet's list for any horse that is given medication that describes the medication, the dates they were administered and the conditions they were administered to treat. In this day and age of technology there really is no reason why this can't be done.

Clever but the ROI was quite strong Saturday.

Valid point.

It's worth noting that between his four runners in the Manhattan and Belmont they beat a combined 2 horses from other barns. Those happen to have the stringent testing/security unlike others.

So a specific example. Does General A Rod not like turf? Was he sick? Was it testing? Lots of questions. So let's assume he ends up in another turf race against slightly weaker with no additional testing...what do you do?

Per Jimmy Jerkens this morning, Effinex 100% fine. Cannot find any issue. Wanted to run and started to fight Arroyo who was trying to rate him. Ultimately just wrapped up on him.

Got you.. Not that anyone was betting Micromanage in the entry with the winner, but he finished where he did in no small part thanks to being taken out of the race by Effinex who carried out into neverland.

If the barn runs them, they aren't showing outward signs (cough, fever) of an illness. You play them based on your normal capping conclusions.

Thanks, Steve. Glad to hear he came out of the race ok.