The $175,000 Futurity (G3) at Aqueduct on Friday may result in trainer Todd Pletcher having two more contenders for the Breeders’ Cup next month at Del Mar.
Mentee had a bumpy start in his first race on turf but took charge in the stretch for a 3 ½-length victory over stablemate Gate to Wire in a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In’’ race.
The win earned Mentee a fees-paid automatic berth in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) next month at Del Mar, but Pletcher said he and owner Mike Repole are considering the City of Light colt for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at 1 mile.
He added that favorite Gate to Wire could end up in the 5-furlong BC Juvenile Turf Sprint.
“I’ll talk to Mike a little bit, but we actually talked about it before, and we thought if he [Mentee] ran well, it would be a good bridge to the mile instead of the 5 furlongs – we’ll see,” Pletcher said.
Mentee, ridden by John Velazquez, returned $10.20 on a $2 win bet and covered the 6 furlongs in 1:08.82 over a firm turf course.
As for the Futurity effort by Mentee – now 2-for-3 -- Pletcher said: “Johnny looked like he had a lot of horse the whole way and when he asked him, he responded well.”
Mentee came into the race off a sixth-place finish in the 7-furlong Hopeful Stakes (G1) on Sept. 2 at Saratoga.
“That’s more of what we were expecting out of him,” Velazquez said. “He broke pretty good – a little sharp and jumping a little bit the first two jumps and then I settled him, and he settled nicely. When the horses got to him on the backstretch, he got a bit strong. I sat against him going to the quarter-pole and made sure I kept him busy down the lane – pretty easy, though.”
Gary Contessa, who trains third-place finisher Epitaph, said his colt would run in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint “if they’re willing to let him in.”
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