Pletcher explains Flower Alley's last race

[pweizer]

From today's DRF:

Flower Alley, who finished seventh as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap on Aug. 5, continued preparations for next month's Grade 1 Woodward here by breezing five furlongs in 1:02.27 Tuesday morning over Saratoga's main track.

After examining the Ragozin sheet numbers, trainer Todd Pletcher said he believes the Whitney came up a strong race and that Flower Alley, having had just one race under his belt, wasn't ready for a peak effort. Invasor won the Whitney by a nose over Sun King. Flower Alley was beaten nine lengths.

"The [Whitney] might not have been as bad as it seemed," Pletcher said. "According to the Ragozins, he ran just as fast there as he did [winning] the Salvator Mile, so it probably was a strong race. It was only his second start of the year. Hopefully, having that race under his belt, and today was his first of three breezes between the Whitney and the Woodward, I would think he would move forward for having done that."

It sounds like he is admitting Invasor is a better horse.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by pweizer

From today's DRF:

Flower Alley, who finished seventh as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap on Aug. 5, continued preparations for next month's Grade 1 Woodward here by breezing five furlongs in 1:02.27 Tuesday morning over Saratoga's main track.

After examining the Ragozin sheet numbers, trainer Todd Pletcher said he believes the Whitney came up a strong race and that Flower Alley, having had just one race under his belt, wasn't ready for a peak effort. Invasor won the Whitney by a nose over Sun King. Flower Alley was beaten nine lengths.

"The [Whitney] might not have been as bad as it seemed," Pletcher said. "According to the Ragozins, he ran just as fast there as he did [winning] the Salvator Mile, so it probably was a strong race. It was only his second start of the year. Hopefully, having that race under his belt, and today was his first of three breezes between the Whitney and the Woodward, I would think he would move forward for having done that."

That is absolute nonsense. As I have said before, most trainers will not tell you what is wrong with their horse unless they are going to lay the horse up. I have no idea what is wrong with Flower Alley but I'm sure there is a problem. Let's just pretend that his knee is bothering him. Pletcher is not going to come out and tell you that his knee was bothering him and that they are going to inject it next time.

[Danzig]

i disagree rupert. there isn't anything necessarily physically wrong with the horse. maybe he wasn't ready. they aren't going to jeopardize thousands in stud fees by continuing to run a horse if he has a problem. he wasn't fit and ready, one race since last october is no doubt the culprit. some horses fire well off of lots of rest and just works, others don't. it didn't work for him this time. i feel if he had a real issue physically, they'd send him to the farm now. wouldn't be the first time a promising horse went into retirement at this point in a career, certainly wouldn't be the last. they obviously think they know what the deal is, and feel he will improve. of course, that could just be wishful thinking, but i don't believe pletcher runs his stable based on wishes rather than logic.

[Gander]

My question is why didnt the best trainer in the game have his best horse ready for a race he was planning for since Dec of last year? Something is kind of weird.

[Danzig]

don't know gander......

is it the time of year? pletcher gets a whole lot of newbies at that point, maybe flower alley got lost in the shuffle a bit. or maybe pletcher underestimated the competition and overestimated flower alleys ability to win after one start since the bcc last year.

[Gander]

Funny that the best horse in his stable would get lost in the shuffle, LOL! Cmmon. Something isnt right.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

i disagree rupert. there isn't anything necessarily physically wrong with the horse. maybe he wasn't ready. they aren't going to jeopardize thousands in stud fees by continuing to run a horse if he has a problem. he wasn't fit and ready, one race since last october is no doubt the culprit. some horses fire well off of lots of rest and just works, others don't. it didn't work for him this time. i feel if he had a real issue physically, they'd send him to the farm now. wouldn't be the first time a promising horse went into retirement at this point in a career, certainly wouldn't be the last. they obviously think they know what the deal is, and feel he will improve. of course, that could just be wishful thinking, but i don't believe pletcher runs his stable based on wishes rather than logic.

If it was his first race back that would be one thing. It wasn't his first race back. He ran really well in his first race back. He had plenty of works in between races. There is no way the horse would have been that short for the race. He could have been a length or two short but here is no way that he would be 10 lengths short. I can't say for sure that there is something physically wrong with the horse. Maybe he just wasn't feeling good that day. Maybe he had a little bug in his system that he was just getting over that went undetected. I'm sure there are some fairly harmless reasons as to why he didn't run well. But I can tell you that there is no way his bad performance was simply because he was short. If he would have run 3rd and got beaten by a length or two, then it could be a fitness issue.

You are right that they won't continue to run him if they think that he can't compete. They also will not run him if they think that he might break down. However, they will run him if they think the problem is something they can deal with and something that will not put the horse at any huge risk. If he has a little bit of an ankle injury, but they think they can inject and get one or two more races out of him, I'm sure they will do it. What's probably the worst thing that will happen? The worst thing that will probably happen is that the ankle will get a litttle worse. By him runing him on the ankle, it would jeopardize his chances of being able to run next year, but he's not running next year. He's retiring after two more races so it doesn't matter if the ankle gets a little bit worse.

I think that FA had a minor injury last year. He ran terrible and lost by about 15 lengths in his race right before the BC Classic. They probably injetced whatever was bothering him and get one more great race out of him(his 2nd place finish in the BC Classic). I think the same thing happened with Speighstown. He ran a lousy race right before the BC Sprint but he ran great in the BC Sprint. Most of these top trainers have very good vets and as long as the inujury is not too bad they can usually get one or two more races out of a horse. This happens all the time even with very good horses.

[Slewbopper]

[quote=Rupert Pupkin] I have no idea what is wrong with Flower Alley but I'm sure there is a problem. QUOTE]

The EPO hasn't worn off from last year. Oh, excuse me, Todd Pletcher is the greatest trainer in the world and doesn't need anything to help his horses win.

RIP Left Bank