"I certainly wouldn't want them to make Polytrack in New York and where we're at," he says. "It just doesn't seem natural. You run them on dirt, you run them on grass. I don't know what all this Polytrack's about."
Pletcher says he likes the way his horses have been training on a synthetic surface. They've been eating, he says, they've had good demeanor and they seem to bounce back from races quicker. While everyone is clearly learning as he goes, the track surface does seem like a convenient excuse.
"I think that's the way everyone's going to look at Polytrack -- if you have a good race over it and your horse runs well, you're happy," Pletcher says, "and if your horse runs bad, maybe that's the excuse."
Though there are several horses in tomorrow's field who are jumping from synthetic to dirt, perhaps none enters the gate under a bigger question mark than Colonel John.
He has the experience, a big win at Santa Anita and a trainer who has won the Derby (Harty was Bob Baffert's top assistant and had his fingerprints all over Silver Charm and Real Quiet in 1997 and '98). But even when Big Brown was slotted in the 20 post, where no horse has won since 1929, Colonel John never got a whiff as the favorite here.
Though Harty's horse will have to adjust to the sounds of beating hooves and the sight of dirt flying in every direction, the trainer says his only concern in switching surfaces is if rain creates some mud tomorrow.
But what he has never doubted is his horse.
Technically, Harty is a Derby rookie this year. The Dublin, Ireland, native went out on his own in 2000. Though the work might be the same, he knows the stakes are somewhat different.
"I'm going to be a hero or a zero," he said. "It's my name on the program, and the results are going to hang on my head, one way or the other. Before, I was in the background and no matter what happened, I didn't have to take the fall for it."
Colonel John's entire career has taken place at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Hollywood. All of the Southern California tracks feature synthetic surfaces now, so how Colonel John fares tomorrow could affect how owners and trainers prep their horses heading into future Triple Crown series.
On the surface, Colonel John could be poised for roses. On the surface, he has it all. And on the surface, he appears every bit the champion that Big Brown seems to be.
But it's the surface that no one is certain about.
rick.maese@baltsun.com
