How exciting it was to see American Pharoah win the Triple Crown, ending a 36-year drought (the Triple Crown of horse racing consists of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes). Jockey Victor Espinoza sealed his place in history.
The roar of the crowd.
The sweet taste of victory.
All of a sudden, you’re everyone’s best friend.
Everybody loves a winner.
But this jockey knows about the other side of the coin. This was his third attempt at the Triple Crown. He lost the previous two times.
Todd Pletcher is a dominant force in the horse racing world. He’s been selected as the outstanding Trainer of the Year for each the last four years.
He also holds the single season earnings record, set in 2006 with purse earnings totaling nearly $28 million. That same year, he broke a record set nineteen years earlier by the legendary D. Wayne Lukas – most stakes wins in a year.
Starting young
Todd found his passion early in life. You might say that training horses was in his blood. He began at the age of 7, working for his father. He continued working part-time all the way through college, spending summers training horses.
During that time, he worked for several legendary trainers, including the man whose record he broke in 2006, D. Wayne Lukas.
He went to work full time for Lukas after graduating from college in 1989. Six years later, he broke out on his own, winning his first race early in 1996.
Winning the bigg one
Today, at 40, Todd’s stable is considered the hottest in the industry. In great demand by horse owners, he dominates nearly every single race in which he competes.
Except for three. You see, for all his success, he has yet to win a single Triple Crown event. Nada. Nothing. A bigg goose egg. Zero.
No Kentucky Derby wins. No Preakness victories. No takes at the Belmont Stakes.
In fact, he also holds the record for the most Triple Crown losses without a victory.
Some people think he can’t be considered the greatest trainer in history if he can’t win the bigg one. After all, the masses may not know much about horse racing, but they do know about the Kentucky Derby.
Todd takes it all in stride. Sure, he’ll be happy when he gets a win under his belt and squelches the critics. But until then, he’ll just keep doing his job. He knows he can’t fully control the ultimate outcome of the race, but he can give it his best shot each and every time out.
So here’s our bet … Todd Pletcher will win the bigg one and those roses will smell better than he ever imagined!
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Todd Pletcher is a dominant force in the horse racing world. He’s been selected as the outstanding Trainer of the Year for each the last four years.