Racing Career: Has two Grade 1 wins in 2009 through Oct. 4: the Secretariat Stakes with Take the Points, and the Princess Rooney with Game Face, who also has won the '09 Inside Information Stakes (G2) and the First Lady Stakes (G3), both at Gulfstream Park.... Other top horses for Pletcher in '09 include Munnings, winner of the Tom Fool Handicap (G2) and Woody Stephens Stakes (G2), and Cowboy Cal, winner of the Strub Stakes (G2) and the San Pasqual Handicap (G2) ... Inherited Florida Derby (G1) winner Quality Road from trainer Jimmy Jerkens. For Pletcher, he has won the Amsterdam Handicap (G2) and was second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) ... Had a disappointing Triple Crown season as Dunkirk, a $3.7 million yearling purchase, finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby and Take the Points was last in the Preakness. However, Dunkirk did redeem himself with a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, but was subsequently injured ... Pletcher earned his fourth consecutive Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer for 2007, the third trainer to accomplish that feat, joining Bobby Frankel (2000-2003) and Laz Barrera (1976-79). During 2007, he won his first Classic race with the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes, won his third Breeders’ Cup race with English Channel in the Turf, trained three Eclipse Award Champions – Rags to Riches (Three-Year-Old Filly), English Channel (Turf Horse) and Lawyer Ron (Older Male), and won Grade Is with six other horses … Pletcher also shattered his own record from 2006 when he ended the year with $28,576,097 in earnings. In 2006, his stable earned $26,820,243. … In 2004, Pletcher won his first two Breeders' Cup races with Ashado (Distaff) and Speightstown (Sprint), which helped him lead the nation in earnings with $17,511,923 and receive his first Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer … Ashado and Speightstown were both voted the champions of their divisions ... With 47 individual stakes winners in 2005, Pletcher became the first trainer to crack $20 million in purse earnings with $20,867,842 ... He surpassed D. Wayne Lukas' record of 92 stakes victories in a year on Oct. 15, 2006, when Scat Daddy won the Champagne ... He finished that year with 100 stakes wins out 416 starters … In addition, he broke Lukas' record of 53 graded stakes victories in a year with 57 victories ... Two of his horses won Eclipse Awards in 2006 – Fleet Indian (Older Female) and Wait a While … In 2007, he equaled the record with five Kentucky Derby starters. Louisiana Derby winner Circular Quay, with his sixth-place finish, ran the best of Pletcher’s starters ... Left Bank, 2002 Champion Older Male, became the first of Pletcher's eight Eclipse Award winners after top performances in the G1 Tom Fool and Whitney handicaps. In the Tom Fool, he set a new Belmont track record of 1:20 for seven furlongs, while in the Whitney he equaled the Saratoga track record of 1:47 set by Tri Jet in 1974 ... In 2007, another Pletcher trainee, Lawyer Ron, broke that record when he captured the Whitney in a final time of 1:46.64 ... A perennial leader in New York, Pletcher won five consecutive Saratoga trainer's titles from 2002-2006 before being dethroned by Bill Mott in 2007. He finished second in the Saratoga standings to fellow Lukas alumni and best friend Kiaran McLaughlin in 2008 ... Narrowly lost the coveted Saratoga title to Linda Rice in 2009, but conceded, "She did a great job. She deserves it." ... Pletcher also holds training titles at Belmont Park, Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park and Keeneland … After seven years with Lukas, Pletcher opened his own public stable with seven horses in Dec. 1995 at Hialeah and won his first race in Feb. 1996 at Gulfstream Park with Majestic Number ... Among his earliest success stories was Jersey Girl, won seven consecutive races before being injured, including three grade 1 stakes – the Acorn, Mother Goose and Test … Pletcher employs six assistant trainers for the nearly 200 horses that are in his care: Tristan Barry (New York and Florida), Jonathan Thomas (New York), Michael Dilger (Midwest), Michael McCarthy (Midwest and California), Ginny DePasquale (New York and shippers) and Anthony Sciametta (New Jersey and Florida).
