Todd Pletcher: 2025 Kentucky Derby Trainer Profile

No trainer has started more horses in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs than Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who has had 65 starters in the Run for the Roses! Going all the way back to the fearsome foursome of Impeachment, More Than Ready, Trippi, and Graeme Hall on the first Saturday in May of 2000, Todd Pletcher has run at least one horse (and sometimes as many as five!) in every Kentucky Derby since, except for 2003. With so many horses of that caliber, no wonder he has developed a reputation as a stallion-making trainer.

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Todd Pletcher in the Kentucky Derby

Todd Pletcher has trained two Kentucky Derby winners: Super Saver in 2010 and Always Dreaming in 2017. Six more of his runners have hit the board. Those include money finishers in his first two years with Kentucky Derby starters: Impeachment was 3rd in 2000, and Invisible Ink was second in 2001. His other horses with top-three Kentucky Derby finishes include Bluegrass Cat (second in 2006), Revolutionary (third in 2013), Danza (third in 2014), and Audible (third in 2018).

With all the Kentucky Derby runners he has had, however, Pletcher has only trained the Kentucky Derby favorite twice. Both of his favorites came out of victories in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park. Always Dreaming, his first favorite in the first jewel of the Triple Crown, became his second winner. Fierceness, the reigning juvenile Eclipse Award champion, ran into trouble and finished 15th in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, also becoming the first Kentucky Derby favorite in the points era to finish out of the superfecta.

Todd Pletcher in the Triple Crown

Unlike the Kentucky Derby, Todd Pletcher is much less of a fixture in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course than he is in the Run for the Roses. Though his history in the Preakness dates back to 2000, just like his history in the Kentucky Derby, he has run just 10 horses in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

Todd Pletcher’s most recent starter in the Preakness, as of 2024, was Unbridled Honor. He finished sixth behind Rombauer (trained by his old assistant, Michael McCarthy!) in the 2021 edition. His only trainee who has hit the board in the Preakness was his first-ever runner, Impeachment. He finished third behind Red Bullet in the 2000 Preakness Stakes.

On the other hand, Pletcher often runs horses in the Belmont Stakes, both up-and-comers as well as talented horses from the Kentucky Derby whom he wants to run back after a five-week break. Since his first runner in 2000, he has run 40 horses in the Belmont. It is his most successful Triple Crown race, one he has won four times: with Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017, and Mo Donegal in 2022. He has had another 13 horses hit the board in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, as well.

2025 Kentucky Derby Contender Grande

Todd Pletcher always has a lot of horses to run in Kentucky Derby prep races, and 2025 was no exception. However, it took until the final prep of the New York spur of the Kentucky Derby trail for Todd Pletcher to nail down his starter in 2025. That runner is the lightly-raced Grande, whose runner-up finish behind Bob Baffert trainee Rodriguez in the Wood Memorial punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby.

Two-Year-Old Season

Grande is by Curlin out of the War Front mare Journey Home. There are some Curlin foals and some horses from his female family who have done well at age two, including his dam, who was a Grade 3 winner at a mile on the lawn as a juvenile. However, Curlin and many of his foals needed some time, and many of the classier horses from his female family also emerged as time went on. This is the pattern Grande has followed: like his sire, he was unraced at two.

Three-Year-Old Season

Sent off at 9-1 for his career debut in a maiden special weight dirt mile at Gulfstream on January 11, Grande tracked the early pace set by odds-on chalk Camp Hale. Grande made a move on the turn, took the lead near the quarter pole, and kicked away to win by 2 ½ lengths.

That victory was impressive enough to make him a well-defined favorite, just over even money, in a 1 ⅛-mile dirt allowance at Gulfstream on February 27. Over the longer distance, he showed a similar running style to what he did on debut. He tracked the pace set by well-regarded Brian Lynch trainee Jimmy’s Dailys, led near the three eighths, opened up in the lane, and held a 2 ½-length lead to the finish.

After winning that first two-turn try, Grande graduated to stakes company for the Wood Memorial on April 5. He got some much-needed seasoning in the race, after being bumped at the start in a 10-horse field and having to chase further off the pace than he had in his first two starts. He maintained interest, however. He never threatened to reel in 3 ½-length winner Rodriguez, who led at every call, but he chased on for second, well clear of the rest of the field.

Those 50 points for finishing second in the Wood Memorial were enough to punch Grande’s ticket to compete in Louisville. With only three starts, he does cede experience to most of the field, and he also needs to buck a trend of the Wood being one of the less productive Kentucky Derby prep races of recent years. However, his ability to adjust when things did not go his way is a positive, and he is bred top and bottom for stamina, meaning he may appreciate the stretch out to the 1 ¼-mile distance more than most.

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