(Chart, Equibase)
Trainer Todd Pletcher broke the Sylvester Veitch's 49-year-old Saratoga Race Course record of 24 victories in a season Thursday afternoon when Irish Road won the eighth race.Veitch, a member of racing's Hall of Fame, saddled 24 winners during the 24-day Saratoga meeting in 1954. Pletcher broke Veich's mark on the 20th day of the season with his 73rd starter.Pletcher, 36, tied the record on Monday. He saddled horses in nine other races this week before Irish Road, carrying saddle towel No. 13, became his first two-time winner of the meeting. Irish Road, a 3-year-old Unbridled's Song colt owned by Mount Joy Stables, was entered for main track only in a one-mile allowance race that was taken off the grass."It's a great accomplishment for me and my whole staff," Pletcher said. "It's so hard to compare his record versus mine because of the time span between the two. "We've had a couple of really good Saratoga meets before. The only way I can kind of put it in perspective is the first year I won the training title here with 20, I thought we had the greatest meet you could ever have. Then last year to squeak it out on the last day with 19, I thought that was pretty neat, too."So when you kind of compare the two at the halfway point and you're ahead of those, that's the only way I can put it into perspective."
