Indian Charlie
10-05-2009, 12:05 PM
From Louisville Courier-Journal.
Saturday, Oct. 3.
By Jennie Rees.
Asked how keen he was on running in the Breeders' Cup, Pletcher said Friday morning:
"Not keen at all. I mean, I don't think I'd be alone to say it was not a great idea to hold it at one place two years in a row, period, much less on a synthetic surface. It creates a huge edge for the guys who are in California all the time and a big edge for the guys from Europe. So we're going to take the worst of it in that regard."
"You don't know how they're going to handle it until they run on it. Training doesn't seem to help."
Pletcher is not taking the hard stance of, say, owner Jess Jackson, about categorically not running over it. He noted that a horse like sprint star Munnings, who ran poorly in last year's Juvenile, would be highly unlikely to try the surface again, even if he wins today's Vosburgh against older horses.
"He's been off the board once in his life, and it was there," Pletcher said.
And Quality Road? "We'd be experimenting, you know. But if you don't experiment for $5 million, where are you going to experiment?... All those basically will come down to whether the owners want to try it or not. Right now we would hope to take him out there and gamble."
Pletcher has had a string of horses stabled in California for the winter since synthetic surfaces were mandated there.
"I think there was a time when a lot of people were enthusiastic about the synthetic tracks and felt like it was going to make a difference in soundness and those kinds of things," he said. "I think that enthusiasm level has decreased significantly."
Asked if he would be a big presence at Keeneland, whose fall meet opens Friday, Pletcher said, "We will be a presence. Not a big presence."
Saturday, Oct. 3.
By Jennie Rees.
Asked how keen he was on running in the Breeders' Cup, Pletcher said Friday morning:
"Not keen at all. I mean, I don't think I'd be alone to say it was not a great idea to hold it at one place two years in a row, period, much less on a synthetic surface. It creates a huge edge for the guys who are in California all the time and a big edge for the guys from Europe. So we're going to take the worst of it in that regard."
"You don't know how they're going to handle it until they run on it. Training doesn't seem to help."
Pletcher is not taking the hard stance of, say, owner Jess Jackson, about categorically not running over it. He noted that a horse like sprint star Munnings, who ran poorly in last year's Juvenile, would be highly unlikely to try the surface again, even if he wins today's Vosburgh against older horses.
"He's been off the board once in his life, and it was there," Pletcher said.
And Quality Road? "We'd be experimenting, you know. But if you don't experiment for $5 million, where are you going to experiment?... All those basically will come down to whether the owners want to try it or not. Right now we would hope to take him out there and gamble."
Pletcher has had a string of horses stabled in California for the winter since synthetic surfaces were mandated there.
"I think there was a time when a lot of people were enthusiastic about the synthetic tracks and felt like it was going to make a difference in soundness and those kinds of things," he said. "I think that enthusiasm level has decreased significantly."
Asked if he would be a big presence at Keeneland, whose fall meet opens Friday, Pletcher said, "We will be a presence. Not a big presence."