Trainer Todd Pletcher is no stranger to Arkansas Derby success and he’s
hoping Mike Repole’s Overanalyze is the right horse to bring him back to the
winner’s circle in Oaklawn’s marquee race April 13.
letcher won back-to-back runnings in 2000 and 2001 with Graeme Hall and Balto
Star, respectively, and finished second in 2010 with Super Saver, who went on to
become his first and only Kentucky Derby winner to date.
Overanalyze, who is with Pletcher’s Palm Meadows string in South Florida,
most recently finished fifth as the favorite in in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at
Aqueduct March 2. That was his first start since winning the Grade 2 Remsen at
Aqueduct last November.
Overanalyze, Remsen runner-up Normandy Invasion and third-place finisher
Delhomme were all on everyone’s early Kentucky Derby lists, but have since
fallen off after each made disappointing starts to begin their three-year-old
seasons. However, Pletcher thinks people may be jumping off their bandwagons a
little too quickly.
“I think Normandy Invasion’s race at the Fair Grounds (when fifth in Grade 2
Risen Star) was kind of sneaky good,” Pletcher said. “Now, if you go based on my
horse (Overanalyze) and Delhomme, yes you have to look at (the Remsen) as a
negative key race. We keep looking, and every kind of speed figure shows it was
a fast, big number race. But, I don’t think the race was horrible. The way he’s
been training, I think he’s ready to move forward and he’s going to have to.”
Overanalyze, a Dixie Union colt, has had two good workouts since the Gotham
and is expected to work again over the weekend at Palm Meadows.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com