Mentee and Gate to Wire give trainer Todd Pletcher a versatile pair of sprinters for the $175,000 Futurity Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct on Friday, the first of three days of “Win and You’re In’’ qualifiers for next month’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.
A field of eight is entered for the 6-furlong Futurity, with the winner earning a fees-paid, automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) on Nov. 1.
Mentee moves to the turf for the first time following a career debut win at Aqueduct and a sixth-place finish in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, both on dirt.
Pletcher moved Mentee to grass for workouts on Sept. 20, and obviously the City of Light colt has responded well to the change.
"He's very versatile from what we've seen. He trained well leading into his debut and ran great on the dirt,’’ Pletcher said. “We just thought some of the City of Lights seem to take to the turf, so we gave him a little breeze on it, and he seemed to take to it. The timing and the distance should suit him well.”
Mentee (9-2 on the morning-pine) leaves from post 7 and will be ridden by John Velazquez.
Gate to Wire (4-1) won in his debut by 1 ¾ lengths in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint on Aug. 20 at Saratoga, and leaves from post 1 under Irad Ortiz, Jr.
“He trained like a horse that would run well on his debut and he was able to do that. We circled this race on the calendar after that maiden win and things have gone according to plan,” Pletcher said. “Knock on wood he can make another move forward.”
New York-bred Under Who’s Radar (the 5-2 favorite) comes into the race after finishing first in his turf debut, the Juvenile Sprint on Sept. 1 at Kentucky Downs, but was disqualified to second after ducking out in the final furlong. He won his career debut by 3 ½ lengths at 5½ furlongs at Saratoga on July 19.
Chasing Liberty, moved up from second after Under Who’s Radar was DQ’d in the Sept. 1 race, is also entered but trainer Rob Atras said the colt will scratch and run instead at Keeneland.
The Futurity is race 5 with a post time of 2:44 p.m. ET.
The picks: 1 Gate to Wire 2 Under Who’s Radar 3 Mentee
1 Gate to Wire (Irad Ortiz, Jr., Todd Pletcher), 4-1
2 Epitaph (Junior Alvarado, Gary Contessa), 10-1
3 Chasing Liberty (Ricardo Santana, Jr., Rob Atras), 7-2
4 In The Chase (Joel Rosario, Carlos David), 8-1
5 Under Who’s Radar (Kendrick Carmouche, Mike Maker), 5-2
6 I’m Otter Here (Jaime Torres, Jeff Hiles), 6-1
7 Mentee (John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher), 9-2
8 Joey Muscles (Lane Luzzi, Jena Antonucci), 20-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
