Six contenders could change Pletcher's Derby luck

	Fountain of Youth winner Scat Daddy was one of five horses owned by Todd Pletcher (left) to win Saturday at Gulfstream. AP
	RELATED • Scat Daddy wins Fountain of Youth by nose
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Todd Pletcher does not sweat. His hair is prematurely gray and preternaturally perfect in heat, rain and wind. His jackets are wrinkle free, his shoes polished and his speech devoid of telltale, unprofessional pauses. He does not crack.

Pletcher, 39, has been the dominant thoroughbred horse trainer of the last decade, taking the revolutionary coast-to-coast, saturation system created by his mentor, D. Wayne Lukas, and building it into perhaps the most sophisticated and expansive racing operation in history. He has won three Eclipse Awards and more purse money in a single year than any trainer in history

Dramatic pause.

He has not won the Kentucky Derby. This is either the most -- or least -- significant line in Pletcher's resumé. The most, because, face facts, the Derby is the only horse race in the U.S.A. that truly matters and reaches beyond the hardcore racing audience. The least because, frankly, you've got to catch some serious breaks to win it.

Saturday afternoon the Pletcher-trained Scat Daddy won the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. In the process, Scat Daddy rallied to the wire off a three-wide trip to nail California shipper Stormello by a nose at the end and relegate 3-5 favorite Nobiz Like Showbiz to third place, beaten barely ½ length (and only ½ length in front of Adore The Gold).

The victory was Scat Daddy's fourth in seven lifetime starts and reversed a loss to Nobiz Like Showbiz in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 3. That defeat launched Nobiz and trainer Barclay Tagg (of Funny Cide fame) into the Derby favorite's role and shuffled Scat Daddy back into the pack. After winning three of his first four starts as a two-year-old, Scat Daddy had been victimized in the Breeders Cup Juvenile by Street Sense's freaky inside rush and 10-length victory and then came up short in the Holy Bull.

One-turn miler, said the critics.

Not a Derby horse, agreed the chorus.

"I didn't feel like my horse got the respect he deserved coming into this race,'' Pletcher said after the Fountain of Youth.

He stood in the Gulfstream winners' circle after the race, typically cool in Florida humidity. Surrounded by a small group or reporters (which will grow as May approaches), he gave a typically Pletcher-esque performance: Pitch perfect, professional, and with just the slightest edge. It took less than five minutes before the question was posed about Pletcher's Derby goose egg. Still cool, Pletcher said, "Until we win it, it's going to keep coming up.'' At the end, I didn't know whether to quote him or vote for him, so polished was his appearance.

Math class: Pletcher left the Lukas nest and went off on his own in 1996. He first started a horse -- four, actually -- in the Kentucky Derby in 2000. In seven years he has saddled 14 Derby starters. Twice he has finished second, once third and twice fourth. The record is remarkably similar to Lukas' in his heyday. Lukas went 0-for-13 in his first seven years before winning in '88 with Winning Colors, the first of his four Derby winners in 12 years.