Quality Road ready to finish what he didn't start at Breeders' Cup

[November 03, 2010]  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Todd Pletcher watched Quality Road draw the inside post for Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic and shrugged.

Why should his talented 4-year-old start getting favorable draws now?

He certainly didn't a year ago, when the Florida Derby winner missed the Kentucky Derby because of an injury then suffered a bizarre meltdown while getting loaded into the gate for last year's Classic at Santa Anita.

The temperamental star was bucking so much he ended up having a hood placed over his head in an attempt to calm him down. It didn't work. He suffered superficial scrapes to his legs and was scratched.

A year later, his luck isn't much better.

Quality Road drew the rail for the 12-horse Classic field, meaning he'll have plenty of time to sit in the gate -- assuming he gets in there peacefully this time -- and figure out a way to snap superstar mare Zenyatta's 19-0 record.

"It wouldn't have been one of my choices, but it is what it is," Pletcher said. "You don't get to choose. He was going to load in the gate first regardless, so that part of it doesn't change."

Quality Road is the third choice for the $5 million Classic at 5-1, behind Zenyatta, who was made the 8-5 favorite after drawing the No. 8 post, and Blame, who is at 9-2 on the morning line and will break from the fifth post.

That's all fine by Pletcher, who is hoping to cap a milestone-laden year with his first victory in the Classic. He ended a dreadful 0-fer in the Kentucky Derby when Super Saver triumphed in the Run for the Roses six months ago.

Now it's Quality Road's turn to end Pletcher's 0-for-8 mark in the Classic. He's been solid this year, winning four of five starts, including wins in both the Woodward and Donn Handicaps. His only loss came in a head-bob to Blame in the Whitney.

Quality Road hasn't run 1 1/4 miles, the distance the Classic will be run, since finishing second to Summer Bird in the Jockey Club Gold Cup 13 months ago.

No biggie, says Pletcher. He's augmented Quality Road's training regiment in recent weeks in hopes of having him primed by Saturday night. And where some see his lack of preps at the Classic distance as an impediment, Pletcher only sees signs of his horse's versatility.

"He's the one horse running on Saturday where if we trained him up to the Sprint, he would have been the favorite there," Pletcher said. "If we trained him to the Dirt Mile, he'd be the favorite there. He'll be one of the favorites for the Classic."

But not the favorite. That distinction falls on the incomparable Zenyatta, who should have no problem avoiding early trouble while starting from the No. 8 post.

"We like that number. It's one of our favorite numbers," said Ann Moss, who owns Zenyatta with her husband Jerry. "It's considered to be a lucky number."

Not that it particularly matters where the massive mare lines up. She wins regardless of where she starts. It's been that way all 19 times she's entered the starting gate. If she can make it one more, she'll enter the pantheon of the sport's all-time greats.

"Thus far it's been impossible to beat her. We're hoping a dirt track will help us," Pletcher said. "You have to get a little bit lucky and have a good trip."

Safe passage isn't something Quality Road has enjoyed in his two starts at the Classic distance. His only two starts at the 1 1/4-mile have come on sloppy tracks.

Things should be decidedly cleaner on Saturday. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 40s around the 6:45 post time and the track should be dry.

That's more than enough for Pletcher to think he's got a shot to do something dozens of other horses have been unable to accomplish: beat Zenyatta.

"I think he'd be a pretty hard horse to write off," Pletcher said. "I don't think if he wins on Saturday there are going to be too many surprised people ... to me he gets a mile and a quarter no problem. I do know of one thing, if the Donn was a 1 1/4 mile he might have won by 25 that day."

Quality Road probably won't have the chance to win in a romp on Saturday. The front-running chestnut will likely have to fend off Zenyatta's trademark stretch run if he wants to head off to retirement as the only horse to beat the sport's reigning queen.

It's why Pletcher doesn't see the rail draw as a major problem. Quality Road is going to get to the front early anyway. This only gives him more incentive to get there quickly. How long he stays there -- and how much he exerts himself -- will be up to jockey John Velazquez.

"We have to get some position coming out of there," Pletcher said. "We have to kind of play it by ear. I have a lot of confidence in John. That's one of those decisions he's going to have to make."

Assuming, of course, that Quality Road gets in the gate. That hasn't been a problem this year, and Pletcher is eager for the opportunity that crumbled moments from the start at Santa Anita last year.

"I think we have come to Churchill with a horse that's fresh, getting ready to go," he said.

[Associated Press; By WILL GRAVES]

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