Photo:

Carson Blevins / Eclipse Sportswire

Delray Beach, Fla.

No sport is as exasperating as Thoroughbred racing when it comes to the futility of making plans.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is painstaking in his attention to detail, and yet the presence of River Thames and Gate to Wire in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park has more to do with circumstance than design.

Pletcher is playing from behind with River Thames. He expected to unveil the colt as a 2-year-old at Saratoga last summer only to have an unspecified setback cost the youngster his juvenile season. As for Gate to Wire, he landed in the Feb. 1 Swale only after a dirt allowance race did not fill. He dominated the seven-furlong contest by five lengths in his first dirt start.

Neither River Thames nor Gate to Wire owns any Kentucky Derby qualifying points, a circumstance that makes Pletcher rather uncomfortable.

Pletcher said of River Thames, “Ideally, we would have had a few starts at 2. But it came up the way it came up. We’re just fortunate that everything has gone smoothly since he came back.”

The winner of a record eight Eclipse Awards as North America’s leading trainer was forced out of his comfort zone in his urgency to place River Thames on the Derby trail. River Thames did not debut until he broke his maiden by 4 3/4 lengths going six furlongs Jan. 11 at Gulfstream Park. Then Pletcher pressed on the accelerator by asking the son of Maclean’s Music to make a three-week turnaround to a Gulfstream allowance Feb. 1.

“I felt a little rushed doing that. Sometimes off an impressive debut, you need a little more recovery time,” Pletcher said. “But everything he did between the maiden race and the allowance race showed it was OK to run him back. His appetite was very good. His training was very good. I think he actually put on a little weight in between.”

The gamble paid off with a 6 1/2-length score. Pletcher expects River Thames, owned by CHC and WinStar Farm, to produce another strong effort in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth. The race awards Derby qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis.

“All of the indicators you are looking for he has shown us since the allowance race,” the trainer said. “If he can get this one under his belt, we can be back on the schedule we’d like to be on.” That would almost surely lead to the March 29 Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream.

The Fountain of Youth could provide a defining moment in Gate to Wire’s career. He did not race on dirt until he competed in the Swale in his fifth career start.

“We found out last time he can handle the dirt,” Pletcher noted. “Now, we’ve got to see if he can handle a stretch out in distance.”

Donegal Racing purchased Gate to Wire for $95,000 at Keeneland’s September yearling sale. He was sired by Munnings out the Street Cry mare Sansibar Jewel.

Jerry Crawford, who heads Donegal, said the pedigree of that organization’s fifth Derby prospect in 15 years is “sneaky good.”

“People hear Munnings and they think dirt and they think seven furlongs to a mile,” Crawford said. “But what they’re overlooking with this Munnings is all the help he’s getting for stamina on the broodmare side. That help is pretty dramatic if you go through the pedigree.”

Crawford said of taking a shot with Gate to Wire in the Fountain of Youth, “We like to say in the Donegal partnership that, ‘We let them be all they can be.’ We’ll do that in this case, too.”

Pletcher’s relative lack of depth this season is reflected on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. Vassimo, his top producer in Derby qualifying points, ranks 33rd with 10. He earned those through his fourth-place finish in the Feb. 15 Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds.

Pletcher, after consulting with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., said he will begin experimenting with blinkers. Vassimo is likely to wear that equipment whenever he runs again. Every major race in the last round of Derby preps is under consideration for the son of 2016 Derby winner Nyquist.

“I still believe there is more talent there. He’s still learning,” said Pletcher, knowing time is growing short to turn potential into results.