They say it is lonely at the top and I would guess Todd must feel pretty lonely back at the barn this Monday morning as he looks down the shed row to see his five Derby starters back in their stalls without the roses and the unraced $16 million dollar mistake munching on hay not far away. With great expectations come great disappointment and as the entire racing world watched in disbelief, the air was sucked out of Todd’s world on Saturday afternoon when Street Sense blew by. Can Todd catch his breath? The bigger question is can his clients like Tabor and Sanan get their confidence in Pletcher back. Like it or not Todd is now the poster boy on how not to prepare for the Derby and I suspect his rich clients have figured that out.
Percentages work for you and against you and there is no denying that hitting the board only three times in nineteen attempts speaks volumes. One has to believe that under another trainer horses like More Than Ready, Trippi, Graeme Hall, Balto Star, Pollard’s Vision, Flower Alley, Bandini, Any Given Saturday, Circular Quay and Scat Daddy might have fared better; they couldn’t have fared any worse.