Trainer Todd Pletcher’s vision of back-to-back Kentucky Derby victories after a decade of futility is dimmer for today’s race after withdrawing a top contender for the second straight year.
Pletcher, 43, last year snapped an 0-24 record at the season’s first leg of the Triple Crown when 8-1 Super Saver won after his other horse, Wood Memorial champion Eskendereya, was scratched with a leg injury.
In the 137th edition of the race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, Pletcher again will be without his most- accomplished horse after yesterday scratching Uncle Mo, last season’s 2-year-old champion, who on May 4 was made the 9-2 second favorite to Dialed In (4-1). Uncle Mo won’t run after being unable to sufficiently recuperate from a lingering stomach illness, leaving 20-1 Stay Thirsty as Pletcher’s only hope for consecutive Derby victories.
“It’s very, very, very, very, very disappointing,” Pletcher said at a news conference yesterday. “I said last year, honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had a horse as good as Uncle Mo. To not make it here is a big letdown. I take it as a personal failure.”
Uncle Mo, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, has had a stomach ailment that depressed his appetite and changed the condition of his coat, both signs of illness. Pletcher and owner Mike Repole decided the 3-year-old, who was diagnosed after the colt lost his first race in five starts when he placed third in the Wood Memorial, wouldn’t run after three veterinarians said they couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the issues.
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