Coady Photography
With the Kentucky Derby post position draw having been held yesterday afternoon, trainer Todd Pletcher has turned his attention to planning race strategy for his two Derby hopefuls Destin and Outwork.
Destin, who has not run since winning the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) in track-record time on March 12th, will start from post position nine. Outwork, who survived a fast pace to win the Wood Memorial (gr. I) by a head on April 9th, will break from post fifteen.
“It looks like the speed is on the outside and most of the deep closers have drawn inside,” Pletcher was quoted as saying in a Churchill Downs press release. “That certainly is something that has to be considered coming up to the race. I’ll have my thoughts on what I think should be our race strategy and my riders [Javier Castellano on Destin and John Velazquez on Outwork] will have their ideas, too. They’ll be riding [other] horses for me during [Saturday] and walking back after races we can discuss what we’re likely to do for the Derby. Waiting until then gives us the extra advantage of seeing how the track is playing that afternoon, which is another factor that has to be considered. We’ll work up a plan; we’ll get it figured out.”
On the morning of May 5th, Destin and Outwork both galloped eleven furlongs over the main track at Churchill Downs and also visited the paddock for a schooling session.
All photos by Coady Photography
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to sign up for email newsletters and special offers from The Turf Board!
