Wed Mar 19 14:44:37 2008

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Pletcher has two for Lane's End Stakes

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Florence, KY (Sports Network) - Saturday's $500,000 Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park has drawn a field of 12 three-year-olds. The 1 1/8 mile race is a major stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3.

Eclipse Award winning trainer Todd Pletcher will send out two, Chitoz and Duke of de Buqe, in an effort to win his third Lane's End. He won in 2001 with Balto Star and in 2005 with Flower Alley.

Starting from the inside post will be Duke of de Buqe with Julien Leparoux riding. The gelding is venturing away from Aqueduct for the first time and is 12-1 in the morning-line.

Owned by Anstu Stables, Duke of de Buqe has two wins from four starts for $60,084 as the gelding makes his first appearance in a stakes race.

"Duke of de Buqe is a horse we always thought would like the turf," Pletcher noted, "and since he's a half-brother to Balto Star, who could run on both dirt and turf, we think Duke of de Buqe will handle the Turfway Polytrack well. The Lane's End is a good option for him."

Jockey Rene Douglas has the mount on Chitoz and the pair will break from post three. Chitoz was second in last September's Kentucky Cup Juvenile at Turfway and fifth to Court Vision in the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs in October.

"Chitoz obviously ran well last year at Turfway over the Polytrack," said Pletcher. "With a race under his belt this year, we're hoping to see an improved effort on Saturday."

Owned by the Wertheimer Brothers, the colt has earned $77,688 with two wins in six career starts. Chitoz is 8-1 in the program.

Making a rare start on the main track will be Cannonball. The gelding, 9-2 in the morning-line, will start from post nine with rider Alex Solis.

Cannonball, trained by Wesley Ward, has raced five times on the turf in his seven start career. He was third to Nownownow in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Monmouth Park.

In his two most recent races, Cannonball finished third behind Pletchers Why Tonto in the Hallandale Beach Stakes on February 16 and Pletchers Cowboy Cal in the Tropical Park Derby on January 1.

"We just have to get away from those Pletcher horses," Ward said about Cannonball trying to snap the three race losing streak. "He's been breathing fire every time I've led him over for those races and those horses seem to have brought the extinguishers. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll be facing another Pletcher horse this weekend."

Cannonball has earned $194,380 with two wins, including the King Cugat Stakes on the grass at Belmont Park last October.

Here is the full field for the Lane's End Stakes in post position order: Duke of de Buqe, Julien Leparoux 12-1; Macho Again, Miguel Mena 10-1; Chitoz, Rene Douglas 8-1; Rich Young Ruler, Thomas Pompell 30-1; Adriano, Edgar Prado 6-1; Racecar Rhapsody, Robby Albarado 6-1; Halo's King, Jesus Castanon 50-1; Halo Najib, Kent Desormeaux 7-2; Cannonball, Alex Solis 9-2; El Aleman, Orlando Mojica 99-1; Turf War, Patrick Husbands 5-1 and Medjool, Michael Baze 8-1.

The Lane's End has a scheduled post-time of 6:49 p.m. (et). All 12 contenders will carry 121 pounds.