If Todd Pletcher had another week, maybe a couple more days, Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farms' Charge It might have made the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 27.
But the Hall of Fame trainer didn't have the extra time and Charge It will not make the Midsummer Derby.
"He has been battling a foot abscess," Pletcher said Aug. 21 outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "We got it to burst through, and that was good, but we are just running out of time. I needed to breeze him today or tomorrow, and he's not ready for that. So, no Travers."
Charge It, a son of Tapit , last raced in the July 2 Dwyer Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park, where he won by a whopping 23 lengths. Pletcher decided after that race he would train Charge It up to the Travers.
The lightly raced colt has two wins and two seconds in five career starts.
"It's very disappointing because I thought the horse was training tremendously," Pletcher said. "I know he has the talent to be as good a 3-year-old colt that is in the division. It's bad timing, and we have to get it right before we move forward."
Pletcher said the foot abscess, on the right front, burst and Charge It was able to gallop on the main track Sunday.
"He galloped beautifully, but there was a little bit of blood on his foot where the abscess came out," Pletcher said. "Knowing the horse the way we know the horse, he looked awesome, but he wasn't 110%. The good news is that the abscess burst (Sunday morning), but he missed a couple days of training and that thing is still healing up."
Charge It figured to be one of the major players in the Travers field, which will be drawn Tuesday evening at the Adelphi Hotel in downtown Saratoga Springs. With his defection, it appears as though a field of eight will contend in the 1 1/4-mile Travers.
Trainer Chad Brown has three horses pointed to the race—Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Early Voting , owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables; Toyota Blue Grass (G1) winner Zandon , owned by Jeff Drown; and Juddmonte's Artorius, who won the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga earlier in the meet.
"That's unfortunate," Brown said of Charge It's defection. "When you are training horses of that caliber, everybody wants them. I've been in Todd's shoes before in big races."
Others expected to be entered in the Travers include Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter , the likely morning-line favorite; Gold Square's TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Cyberknife ; Grandview Equine and Don Alberto Stables' Gilded Age; RED TR-Racing's Rich Strike , winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1); and R P M Thoroughbreds' Ain't Life Grand.
Pletcher said the next logical stop for Charge It would be the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx Racing Sept. 24.
"This is a tough business," said Pletcher, who won yesterday's Alabama Stakes (G1) with Nest. "You experience the highs and lows virtually every day."
