BREEDERS' CUP NOTEBOOK | From Lone Star Park

Still waiting: Todd Pletcher has yet to win a Breeders' Cup or Triple Crown race. By other standards, though, the Dallas native is doing well. Pletcher leads the nation's trainers in victories (203) and earnings ($13,707,158) through last week. He started his own stable eight years ago after working as an assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. He set Saratoga's season record for winners last year with 35, and tied it this year. The 37-year-old only child went to grade school in El Paso and high school in San Antonio, and has aunts, uncles and cousins who live in Texas. He left the state many years ago and is based in New York. Pletcher's only other visit to Lone Star Park was during its opening season in 1997, when his horse finished third. He will saddle four horses today: Ashado in the Distaff, Speightstown in the Sprint, Proud Accolade in the Juvenile and Newfoundland in the Classic. A year ago at Santa Anita, he came close when Ashado was second in the Juvenile Fillies and Chapel Royal was third in the Juvenile.
Baffert's stable: Trainer Bob Baffert is adding to his personal stable in December. That's when his wife Jill will deliver the couple's first child together. They already know it's a boy, and Baffert is partial to the name Bode. He came up with it after watching American skier Bode Miller in the 2002 Olympics. Asked if his son might become a skier or a trainer, Baffert joked, "He's probably going to be a bowler, with my genes." Baffert, 51, has sons Taylor, Canyon and Forest and daughter Savannah from his first marriage.
Family connections: It's possible a trainer named Jerkens could win his first Breeders' Cup race today. It might be Allen, a 75-year-old Hall of Famer, or his 45-year-old son Jimmy. Allen is 0-for-6 in previous Breeders' Cups. He trains Bowman's Band, who brings a 12-race losing streak into the $4 million Classic. "He's a solid, hardworking professional," Allen Jerkens said of his horse. "The problem is that in New York, you face two or three tough ones every race. Here, you find seven or eight tough ones." Jimmy Jerkens, who used to be his father's assistant, will saddle Artie Schiller in the $1.5 million Mile on the turf. Artie Schiller has won five of seven this year, and is the younger Jerkens' first BC starter. The father-son duo is based at Belmont Park.
Luck of the Irish: Ireland is the leading home of overseas Breeders' Cup winners. Thirteen Irish-breds have won races since the event began in 1984, and all were on the turf except for 1991 BC Classic winner Black Tie Affair. Britain has produced seven winners and France five. Kentucky is the top U.S. foaling state, with 86 Breeders' Cup winners over 20 years. Coolmore, Ireland's leading stud operation, will have five horses running today. Johannesburg won the 2001 Juvenile for Coolmore. "We like to come here because our season is over in Europe and it didn't get any better than winning with Johannesburg," said John Magnier, Coolmore's managing partner and co-owner of Antonius Pius in the Mile. "It's like a man who likes a drink -- he needs more and more to get the same buzz." Among the countries represented today are Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.
Associated Press
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