Todd Pletcher is to horse racing what the New York Yankees are to Baseball, Los Angeles Lakers are to Basketball and the Dallas Cowboys are to football. You either love them or hate them. whether you like him or not, Todd Pletcher had an incredible year. He has done what it takes to win several big races and deserves to be honored as Trainer of the Year at the upcoming 2013 Eclipse Awards in January.
Let’s break down the numbers:
As of today, Pletcher has a total of 46 graded stakes wins this year. The next on the list is Bob Baffert with 34. Dale Romans has 21, with Chad Brown and Mark Casse rounding out the top 5 with 14 each. There are a couple of other trainers that could be mentioned, but we used those that were consistently in the top 5 for several important categories.
Grade 1
13 – Baffert
11 – Pletcher
9 – Romans
4- Brown
1 – Casse
Grade 2
16 – Pletcher
11 – Baffert
6 – Romans
5 – Casse
2 – Brown
Grade 3
19 – Pletcher
10 – Baffert
7 – Casse
8 – Brown
6 – Romans
Overall Win Percentage
29% – Baffert (514 Starts)
28% – Brown (487 Starts)
27% – Pletcher (833 Starts)
19% – Casse (666 Starts)
16% – Romans (741 Starts)
Percentage in the Top 3
64% – Baffert
63% – Brown
54% – Pletcher
51% – Casse
44% – Romans
Overall Purse Earnings
$20,700,000 – Pletcher
$14,600,000 – Baffert
$11,700,000 – Romans
$11,000,000 – Brown
$10,000,100 – Casse
In my opinion, it’s a two man race for top trainer between Pletcher and Baffert. As you can see by the stats above that both go back and forth at the top of several categories. What can we do to separate the two? It comes down to intangibles.
I like how Pletcher consistently won big races throughout the year as well as finished the year strong. He has two serious contenders for two year old male horse of the year and Kentucky Derby contenders in Shanghai Bobby and Violence. He made three trips to Southern California and faced Baffert twice. The first was when Love and Pride won the Zenyatta Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita by 3 1/4 lengths on September 29. Next, Pletcher shipped horses to take part in the Breeders Cup Championships and won the Breeders Cup Juvenile with Shanghai Bobby. Baffert horses Power Broker and Title contender finished 5th and 8th respectively. Baffert didn’t win any of the 15 races despite having several contenders such as favorites Game on Dude and Executiveprivilege. Most recently, it was once again a battle between Pletcher and Baffert juveniles in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1) at BetFair Hollywood Park. Pletcher shipped Violence in to face 10 others including four from Baffert. Violence would win by 1 1/4 lengths while the four from Baffert finished 3rd, 6th, 9th and 11th.
Baffert did have the lead earlier in the year when Secret Circle (multiple graded stakes winner), Bodemeister (Arkansas Derby winner and runner-up in Kentucky Derby and Preakness), Paynter (Haskell Invitational winner) and Contested (multiple graded stakes winner) were all performing at a high level. However, due to injuries and illness, none of them were able to continue racing. Game on Dude did not perform well in the Breeders Cup Classic, but he did come back to win the Native Diver in late November. If Dude had won the Classic, that would have put Baffert on the fast track to winning the award and Game on Dude receiving Horse of the Year honors.
I believe it will be very close between these two when it comes to final votes, however in the end, Todd Pletcher should receive the award.
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