Friday, 11 May 2012: Vinery Stud is excited to announce its new stallion for the 2012 Breeding Season, the brilliant Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, Pluck.
A magnificently bred son of the all conquering More Than Ready, Pluck was blessed with an extraordinary turn of foot. He produced the most breathtaking finish in Breeders Cup Juvenile history to win the 2010 Juvenile on the Turf in devastating style.
Trained by More Than Ready's trainer, Todd Pletcher, Pluck instantly took a liking to the turf surface, winning his maiden impressively at Belmont Park over 1200m. He faced Group company for the first time in the Group 3 Summer Stakes on the Woodbine 1600m turf course, driving to a one length victory and booking his ticket to the Breeders Cup.
In the $900,000 Breeders Cup Juvenile run at Churchill Downs, again over the 1600m turf course, Pluck displayed all his talent and in spectacular style. Jumping from the widest barrier, he stumbled at the break finding himself at the back of the pack, jockey Garrett Gomez angling him over closer to the fence to save ground. He averted a potential disaster when Rough Sailing lost his footing entering the first turn, slipped, and fell hard ending up sprawled across the track. Pluck had to veer sharply, narrowly missing the fallen jockey and as a result leaving him 10 lengths off the leaders.
As they straightened Pluck began to weave his way through the field, surging to the lead to win the Breeders Cup Juvenile going away. The turn of foot Pluck showed in the final stages of the race prompted the race caller to declare, “Here comes Pluck out of the clouds looking like he had just jumped in at the quarter pole…and Pluck from last to first winning it in a canter!” view race.
Pletcher praised his black colt post race. “He was doing a lot of things on natural talent before this but today he really polished off the race at the end. We knew he had an explosive turn of foot.”
Bred in Kentucky, Pluck is out of stakes winner and multiple Group 1 placed Secret Heart, a daughter of successful Sadler's Wells stallion Fort Wood. The first three dams of Pluck are all stakes winning mares that have produced a total of 23 horses to race for 21 winners, including 11 stakes winners and 3 Group 1 winners. Two time Horse Of The Year London News among them.
“Pluck is a very exciting prospect to have standing here at Vinery. He is a magnificent looking horse with such great depth of pedigree and possessed an extraordinary turn of foot, the most important elements we look for in any potential stallion” said Vinery's Peter Orton. “He sustained an injury in his three year old year preventing him from racing on which was a great disappointment, especially with the plans the stable had to take him to Europe for the classics”.
Pluck will stand his first season at Vinery in 2012 at a fee of $11,000 inc GST.
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