Trainer Pletcher wins 3,000th career race
February 11, 2012HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Todd Pletcher saddled his 3,000th career winner Saturday at Gulfstream Park, when Spring Hill Farm won the third race.
The five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer saddled his first winner, Majestic Number, at the same track in January 1996. He reached No. 3,001 late Saturday when a horse with the same name won the fourth at Gulfstream.
The majority of Pletcher's wins have come at the three major New York tracks: 537 at Belmont Park, 484 at Aqueduct, and 324 at Saratoga.
The 44-year-old trainer says he's been fortunate that a lot of his 3,000 wins have come in major races. He won the 2007 Belmont Stakes with filly Rags to Riches and the 2010 Kentucky Derby with Super Saver.
Nationally, Pletcher ranks 17th among active trainers in victories, a list topped by Hall of Famer Jack Van Berg with 6,410. Pletcher's horses have earned more than $213.8 million in purses, second among active trainers behind his mentor D. Wayne Lukas, who is at $258.5 million.
Pletcher began his career as an assistant to Lukas.