Todd Pletcher has an embarrassment of riches heading for the Kentucky Derby. However Pletcher was hardly embarrassed by the way his Mission Impazible landed the Louisiana Derby by just under a cosy length.
Mission Impazible follows Pletcher’s Eskendereya into the Kentucky Derby picture after the victory at 7-1 odds.
Pletcher’s Louisiana Derby favorite Discreetly Mine was 4th. Mission Impazible broke with the pace but settled towards the rear of the field under jockey Rajiv Maragh, who sat and waited before making a late move and his charge ran on strongly to pass A Little Warm.
Discreetly Mine who had been up front faded to fourth while there was promise shown by the 3rd-place finisher. That was Drosselmeyer who was badly drawn on the wide outside and stayed on strongly at the death.
Pletcher claimed not to have been surprised that Mission Impazible, his second string, won the race as he saw plenty to like about his fourth in his previous run at Oaklawn when having a troubled time.