3,000th winner for Todd Pletcher at Gulfstream
USA: Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher reached a significant milestone on Saturday when he saddled the 3,000th winner of his career at Gulfstream Park.
The former assistant to D Wayne Lukas achieved the feat when the front-running three-year-old Spring Hill Farm won the third race at the Florida track under John Velazquez.
Todd Pletcher: five-time champion
PICTURE: Getty Images"It gives you a little time to reflect," said Pletcher. "There's not many opportunities to reflect in this business, but milestones like this gives you a chance to appreciate all of them."
Pletcher's first winner, Majestic Number, had also come at Gulfstream in January 1996. Coincidentally, he won the fourth at Gulfstream on Saturday with another horse of the same name.
"It's been a great run," added Dallas-born Pletcher, 44. "We've been very fortunate - a lot of great owners, a lot of great horses, tremendous help, a tremendous staff. It's been a lot of fun."
As well as his five Eclipse Awards (2004-07 and 2010), Pletcher has topped the US trainers' prize-money charts on six occasions.
He has trained seven Breeders' Cup winners and won the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver in 2010, three years after he won the Belmont Stakes with Rags To Riches, the first filly in 102 years to win the final leg of the Triple Crown.
Comments