posted May 30, 2008 at 15:46 EST in Triple Crown Betting Trends

Trainer Todd Pletcher came to the 2007 Belmont Stakes with a chance to make history.

It had been what amounted to a lifetime since a filly had won the horse race betting darling Belmont Stakes. Rags to Riches, winner of the 2007 Kentucky Oaks and the best 3-year old filly in the nation, carried Pletcher’s banner and beat the amazing Curlin by the slimmest of margins to win the 2007 Belmont Stakes and end the losing streak for fillies.

Not only did she do that, but she handed Todd Pletcher his first victory in a Triple Crown race.

Pletcher returns to the 2008 Belmont with much less fanfare. Behindatthebar, the winner of this year’s Lexington Stakes, will never be confused with Rags to Riches. While Rags to Riches went off as the second choice in the 2007 Belmont Stakes to Curlin, Behindatthebar could go off as the sixth choice in the 2008 Belmont Stakes.

But Behindatthebar’s trainer is Todd Pletcher.

For those who follow horse racing betting religiously, like the writer of this article, Pletcher is without doubt the top thoroughbred horse racing trainer in the world. His barn is usually at the top of the standings at both the spring meet at Belmont and the summer meet at Saratoga.

He sends his horses to the top races inthe nation and usually either wins those races or at least places in them. Last year, Pletcher sent Panty Raid to the Grade I American Oaks at Hollywood Park and won the race. He turned Flower Alley into a Breeders’ Cup Classic contender in 2005. He trained the brilliant filly Ashado. He has won three straight Eclipse Awards for trainer of the year since 2005.

Pletcher learned his craft under legendary horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Lukas has saddled more Kentucky Derby winners then any other thoroughbred trainer in history. Under Lukas’s tutelage, Pletcher became a rising star in the thoroughbred training industry almost as soon as he opened the doors to his own barn.

The wins followed soon too and in 2005 Todd Pletcher broke Lukas’s record for earnings in a single season. In that year Pletcher’s horses won 93 stakes races, including 17 Grade I’s. He trained Bandini to a victory in the Bluegrass Stakes and Flower Alley to a victory in the Travers’ Stakes. The total earnings for Pletcher’s horses that year were $20,867,842.

Pletcher looks to add to his status by upsetting the superhorse, Big Brown, in the 2008 rendition of the Belmont Stakes.

Does he have the right horse? Maybe. Even though Behindatthebar looks like he should have no chance in the 2008 Belmont Stakes, Todd Pletcher will only run his horses in races where he thinks he can win.

He never saddles a horse just because he wants to have the horse in the race. What that means is that if Todd Pletcher thinks Behindatthebar has a chance to upset Big Brown and win the 2008 Belmont Stakes, then who are we to argue?

This is Todd Pletcher. I’d have to consider a mule’s chances to win the 2008 Belmont if Pletcher trained it.

That’s how good the guy is.

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