More quotes from Pletcher on Palace Malice
DiscreetCat
Moderator
from DRF:
Pletcher also will send out Palace Malice, third in the 1 1/16-mile Risen Star in his first start around two turns.
I thought he ran well, Pletcher said. He was a little farther back than I anticipated. The way hes trained coming into this race, I think hes capable of a stronger performance than last time.
Pletcher will not be here, though. He is remaining at Gulfstream to saddle Shanghai Bobby in the Florida Derby, so assistant Whit Beckman will supervise here.
Pletcher also will send out Palace Malice, third in the 1 1/16-mile Risen Star in his first start around two turns.
I thought he ran well, Pletcher said. He was a little farther back than I anticipated. The way hes trained coming into this race, I think hes capable of a stronger performance than last time.
Pletcher will not be here, though. He is remaining at Gulfstream to saddle Shanghai Bobby in the Florida Derby, so assistant Whit Beckman will supervise here.
Comments
As for Pletcher, running out of horses. Better start talking.
Yeah, i thought he was on his way to the win. Then he got boxed in by Code West (i think) behind the tiring leaders, and had nowhere to go. Then when a slight opening finally came, he made a move for it (showing that he indeed had plenty left, i thought), and got body-slammed and shuffled back by the horses that had already moved up on his outside while he was trapped. This trip was even worse than the last one. Unreal.
The only good news is that people will likely have him way under-valued next time. Super disappointing result, and not really the horse's fault (though i do blame Edgar a little bit for failing to move Palace Malice to the outside. Thought he could've just let Code West go and then swung out and followed him, rather than getting trapped like that.
Once Prado made his nice rail move I thought Palace Malice was going to be long gone having a huge jump on any of the major contenders. Instead of keeping his momentum going, steering him outside, and pushing go, Prado decides to pray for the dream split and spoils everything. I'd be livid if I were John right now. Like dirty said, lets hope he comes back alright and can try to wheel back in a few weeks to give it one more go.
Palace Malice had a nightmare trip the final three-eighths of a mile in the $1,000,000 G-2 Louisiana Derby Saturday evening. While racing on the rail, he moved to within 1 1/2 lengths in the far turn, then was boxed in, solidly bumped and passed by several horses losing all chance. We did not have the opportunity to see what Palace Malice is capable of in this race. Edgar Prado, the jockey, said with a clean trip, Palace Malice very well good have been a winner. Before the race, Cot said one hopes for an absence of bad luck. Our wish was not granted! We will plan to give this colt another chance in the Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 13.
John, will you be in Lexington for the race? There is a chance I can talk the wife in to a last minute weekend in Kentucky.
Good. I expected this. I also expect a 3rd new rider. We'll get him there John.
Huge performance from him, Pletcher said at Gulfstream Park. Sometimes you lose ground like Revolutionary did but you get a clean run at it, and sometimes you save ground like Palace Malice did and you take the worst of it. It worked out for Revolutionary, it was kind of a frustrating trip for the other horse.
Kinda telling IMO.
Reading between the lines would certainly imply he would have more faith in PM going forward than Revolutionary.
For sure. And the question wasn't about PM regardless. He knows, like we all do, PM was best on the day and never got to show it.
My gut tells me with this being Cot's swan song, we'll see him in Lexington. Gonna be tough to wheel right back in the Derby, but not impossible.