Trainer Todd Pletcher broke the North American single-season record for earnings when his trainee Spin Factor won the second race at Aqueduct to give him a total of $19,150,856. The previous record was set in 2003 by Bobby Frankel when horses sent out by him earned $19,147,129. Pletcher has enjoyed an excellent season this year, winning trainer titles at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, and Saratoga (for the fourth consecutive year).
Pletcher said, "It was a great year and a credit to the whole staff and the whole system working well. We did it without any bonuses, without any Dubai. We won a lot of good races along the way with the Travers (Flower Alley) and the Blue Grass (Bandini). It's really a collection of all those wins as opposed to one huge blowout. I'd have to put the Travers way up there on the top of the list."
Pletcher started his career as an assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas and worked for him for seven years before going out on his own in 1995. He won his first race in February 1996 at Gulfstream Park with Majestic Number. He won his first New York stakes, the Astoria, with Jersey Girl in 1997 and she went on to win three Grade 1 races for him, including the Acorn, Mother Goose, and Test, before having to retire due to injury. Things have only gone up from there.
2004 was a banner year for him with two Breeders' Cup wins, Ashado in the Distaff and Speightstown in the Sprint, multiple training titles, and finishing first in the nation in purse money won. This season earned him an Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer. Ashado and Speightstown also won Eclipse Awards for their division as did his regular rider, John Velazquez, for outstanding jockey.
He has not slowed down in 2005 as evidenced by his breaking the earnings record. He has won numerous stakes and his Grade 1 winners include Forest Danger in the Carter, Bandini in the Blue Grass, Ashado in the Ogden Phipps and the Go for Wand, and Flower Alley in the Travers. Other graded stakes winners this year are Maddalena, Proud Accolade, Isola Piu Bella, Pollard's Vision, Coin Silver, Spun Sugar, Limehouse, Capeside Lady, English Channel, Ready's Gal, Adieu and West Virginia. With just over a month left in the season, his earnings can only continue to grow and raise the record higher.
