Trainer Todd Pletcher said he is considering bringing back Champagne winner
and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Havana in the $150,000 Swale on March 1
rather than the $400,000 Fountain of Youth on February 22.
The Swale is run at seven furlongs, while the Fountain of Youth is contested
at 1 1/16 miles. Both are run at Gulfstream Park.
“I think I’m going to be in the Swale with him,” Pletcher said. “I just
missed too much time and got behind schedule a touch. I’m hoping to make the
work tab with him probably later this week and then point for the Swale.”
Pletcher said Havana, who took a lead into the stretch before settling for
second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by New Year’s Day in the Breeders’ Cup, is still a
Kentucky Derby candidate.
“If he were to run well in the Swale and then come back, I think that gives
him time for two preps,” he said. “Only one of them will be around two turns,
that’s all.”
Meanwhile, the Pletcher-trained Commissioner, who pushed his win streak to
two races in an allowance at Gulfstream on January 3, will make his stakes debut
in the Fountain of Youth, while Intense Holiday is also a consideration for the
race off his third-place effort in the $400,000 Holy Bull on January 25.
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