Pletcher’s Zulu 5-2 favorite for Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes

On paper, trainer Todd Pletcher got some confirmation Tuesday that the path he picked for Zulu is the correct one.

As the post positions were drawn for Saturday’s Grade I, $1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, it was the lightly raced Zulu who emerged as the 5-2 morning-line favorite as a full field of 14 and two horses that are also eligible were entered to try and snag a chunk of the 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points that are up for the taking. The fact that a colt with just three career starts and one runner-up effort in his lone graded stakes race was made the favorite says a mouthful about the Blue Grass field — which is exactly why Pletcher had the son of Bernardini on a plane bound for Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon.

“We weren’t making any secrets about the fact we didn’t want to run against Nyquist and Mohaymen (in the Florida Derby last Saturday),” Pletcher said Tuesday. “We wanted to put ourselves in the position of instead of being third choice, being possibly the favorite. At least for the morning line, we handicapped it properly.”

The 92nd running of the Blue Grass Stakes is about as wide open as any Kentucky Derby prep race has been this season. Brody’s Cause, winner of the Grade I Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last October, is second choice at 4-1 in on the morning line. He is the only graded stakes winner in the bunch.

The 1 1/8 -mile Blue Grass heads up an outstanding 11-race card Saturday which also features unbeaten Cathryn Sophia as the even-money, morning-line choice in the Grade I Ashland Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The cards also includes the season debuts of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint victor Wavell Avenue going seven furlongs in the Grade I Madison.

Zulu’s presence at Keeneland wasn’t settled upon until last weekend when it was decided that his stablemate Outwork would be bound for the Grade I Wood Memorial at Aqueduct this Saturday. That Pletcher had the issue of trying to separate his Kentucky Derby hopefuls was a welcome one as he began 2016 decidedly light on well-regarded 3-year-olds, at least by his seven-time Eclipse Award-winning standards.

On Jan. 15, the day the Eclipse Awards winners were announced, Zulu gave his trainer something to grin about when he notched a 7¼-length win in his season debut going seven furlongs in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park. Such a visually impressive outing merited a toss into deeper waters, which is exactly what Zulu got next time out when he ran a brave second to Mohaymen in the Grade II Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 27.

“He (Zulu) kind of came into us a little bit late last year and … by that nature he wasn’t going to have an early campaign,” said Pletcher, who also has Donegal Moon and Cards of Stone entered in the Blue Grass. “But he impressed us from the beginning. We always liked him and we weren’t surprised he was able to win first time out, and we weren’t surprised he was able to win the allowance race.

“He actually gave Mohaymen a good run for his money before flattening out a little bit the last part, but I thought it was still a very credible effort for his first start around two turns and going up against a quality, seasoned horse. I thought he made a good account of himself. Now we need him to move forward and improve and handle the 1 1/8 miles and the big field and all those things.”

Owned by Stonestreet Stables, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, Zulu has been on or near the frontin each of his three starts and has the fluid stride and strong enough pedigree to suggest that an increased distance should not be his undoing.

But all of that hinges on him not coming unglued. Pletcher said the bay colt can get worked up and that how he handles the big race atmosphere is crucial to how well he runs out of post position No. 4 under jockey Javier Castellano.

“He’s got a lovely way of going, and if we can get him into his rhythm that will help,” Pletcher said. “I think the real key to him is sometimes he’s a little bit excited and we need him to keep his composure and behave well in the paddock and post parades and all that. Hopefully if he does that, he’ll be able to run to his capabilities.”

Brody’s Cause has by far the best Keeneland form of the Blue Grass field, having unleashed a huge turn of foot to win the Breeders’ Futurity by a length last Oct. 3 and coming on late again to get third behind eventual champion Nyquist in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

But the son of Giant’s Causeway puzzled trainer Dale Romans in his 2016 debut, as he never got into contention while finishing seventh in the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.

“There is just no explanation for the Tampa Bay race. I just don’t know,” said Romans, who also has Cherry Wine entered but is still considering cross-entering that horse in the Wood Memorial. “It’s an odd racetrack and the only other thing I can think of is that if you go back and look at the first race he ever ran in his life, I thought he would gallop in there and he ran terrible. He might just be a horse who after some time needs a race.

“He trained so good going into (Tampa) and he ran so poorly and he’s come back and he’s training even better. So he got something out of the race. It could be he’s a surface-sensitive horse and, if that’s the case, he’ll look good in the Blue Grass.”

Brody’s Cause will break from post No. 6 while Cherry Wine, who has a similar late-running style, drew right alongside Zulu in post No. 3

“We’ll definitely monitor the (Wood Memorial) race and see how many they’re getting, but we have such a good post we might just stay where we are (with Cherry Wine),” Romans said.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Pletcher’s Zulu 5-2 favorite for Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes."