Pletcher gets a maiden

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Can't speak for pre-Mid 90's ... but from Mid-90's on Lukas was pretty brutal and way, way, more overbet and underachieving than Pletcher.

He did a real number on a bunch of owners - Padua especially.

But like you said, he did campaign his horses hard and wasn't afraid to ship anywhere at anytime. Good from a fan standpoint.

Pletcher certainly isn't a $1.20 ROI year in and year out -- but it's kind of lame how he's become like his own brand or something. He's always been just a winter wizard -- who often gets hot in spots a few weeks before big sales...but is otherwise someone to avoid.

Terrible from a racing fan standpoint with his five and six race campaigns and horses still often falling apart late in the season.

Owners get lured into his brand just like they did with Lukas. There are some other trainers who I think would be at least as successful with his same stock and ownership support. They just don't have the brand that sucks in owners.

Lukas hit a major dry spell in 1990 after his main client, Gene Klein, dispersed his holdings. That is a good period to compare to Pletcher's current reign, since both trainers had owners who weren't afraid to open their checkbooks at public auction.

Between 1980 and 1989, Lukas won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness (twice), and Kentucky Oaks (four times). Lukas had a reputation for getting the most out of his 2yos, and during that span he won the Spinaway four times, the Matron five times, the Frizette three times, the Oak Leaf six times, the Norfolk three times, the Del Mar Futurity three times, and the Del Mar Debutante six times, In the first seven Breeders Cups, he won the Distaff three times, the Juvenile three times, the Juvenile Fillies twice (was 1-2-3 in 1988), the Sprint, and the Mile. Not bad.