I am reasonably certain the owners pushed Pletcher to run the horse in the Derby.
Maybe that was the final nail in the coffin for this horse, it's certainly happened before, but the pattern of " Great Florida - nothing the rest of the year " has occurred too many times to be ignored.
The simple fact, if you ask me, is there are too many horses, in a number of barns, that seem to run inexplicably great for one or two starts, only to tail off VERY quickly and/or disappear for upwards of a year...or forever.
Actual good horses do not do this ( or at least hadn't done this for a hundred years leading up to the new millenium ) and yet it has become a frequent situation in a few barns.
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