Todd Pletcher is no stranger to running a 3-year-old in the Belmont Stakes (G1).
The Hall of Fame trainer owns the modern-day record with 39 starters, and he has numbered four wins and nine seconds in those totals.
But this 157th edition of "The Test of the Champion" is not the typical experience for Pletcher.
After training a long list of the top contenders in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course Pletcher will be saddling a pair of longshots. In Crudo and Uncaged, he has two of the three horses who are 15-1 or higher in the morning line for the eight-horse field.
"We're coming in a little bit different this time. These horses don't have the foundations of some of the others," said Pletcher, who has a win, three seconds, and a third in the race since 2022.
Crudo, owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay and James Ventura, has the better credentials of the two. The son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify is coming off a front-running 7 1/2-length victory in the May 17 Sir Barton Stakes, a race restricted to nonwinners of an open stakes on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard at Pimlico Race Course.
It was the second straight win in three career starts for the colt bred by Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt out of the Deputy Minister mare Blossomed. He was bought for $350,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale but was then an RNA at $520,000 at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale.
Pletcher basically weighed all of the options and then waited until the final days before entering Crudo in the Belmont, where he is listed at 15-1 in the morning line.
"He had a couple of good weeks since the Sir Barton. I just wanted to see how he breezed and I thought he breezed well," Pletcher said. "We looked at the options. Maybe wait a week for the Pegasus (at Monmouth Park) as a possible prep for the Haskell. Or you could look at Indiana or Ohio and all these different places. But you know what, the horse is here, he's doing well. He has some pace and I didn't see a whole lot of pace in the race. With (jockey) John Velazquez available, I couldn't come up with a reason not to try."
Crudo's entry changed the complexion of the 1 1/4-mile Belmont as without him Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) winner Rodriguez loomed the lone speed in the race. Now an early battle between Crudo and Rodriguez seems destined to unfold at the Spa.
"We got to come out running and see how it unfolds," Pletcher said. "In the Sir Barton I liked the way he galloped out after the finish line. So, I think the mile and a quarter should suit him."
Crudo's bland speed figures in the Sir Barton underscore his odds, though Pletcher believes the colt's effort was better than the numbers indicate.
"I have a little issue with some of the speed figures that day. There was an early post and the track was drying out all day," Pletcher said. "It was a difficult day to make numbers. To me, his race was a little stronger than some of the numbers suggest."
Uncaged's Entry was Repole's Idea
Repole Stable and WinStar Farm's Uncaged was last seen finishing sixth in the May 10 Peter Pan Stakes (G3), some 10 1/4 lengths behind the victorious Belmont starter Hill Road, and is now 30-1 in the Belmont morning line. While that was not the typical effort that leads to running in a Triple Crown race, it was co-owner Mike Repole who pushed Pletcher to enter the son of Curlin . The wise-cracking Repole's text to Pletcher can be condensed into: "I'm running a horse in the Belmont. Do you want to train him?"
"That was pretty much what the text said," Pletcher said. "I give all the credit to Mike for making that decision to run Uncaged. But he's healthy. He broke his maiden at Saratoga. I think we can work out a little different trip than we got in the Peter Pan and maybe pick up a little chunk of it."
In the Peter Pan, when Uncaged was sent off at 8-1 odds, jockey Kendrick Carmouche said the kickback caused the $450,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale buy to lose interest.
"Kendrick said he thought he made an error on the first turn. He was parked four to five wide and he elected to go inside, which is the logical thing to do. Unfortunately, he said when he got there the kickback hit the horse and he couldn't get him motivated. He never had an opportunity to get him outside after that. So we'll try to keep his face clean this time and see if it makes a difference," said Pletcher, who will use jockey Luis Saez Saturday.
Bred by WinStar out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Dark Nile, Uncaged has won two of four starts, both on muddy tracks, and is looking for his first stakes win while facing the unenviable task of tackling a field filled with the top 3-year-olds, including the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes winners.
