Harlan's Holiday was the 6-1 favorite in the Derby after winning the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) and Florida Derby (gr. I). He finished seventh. In the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) two weeks later, Harlan's Holiday ran fourth.
After War Emblem, Wiseman's Ferry, Proud Citizen, and Perfect Drift exited a plane Wednesday morning that had carried them from Kentucky to New York for Saturday's Belmont Stakes (gr. I), a surprise passenger walked off and was loaded into a van. His name: Harlan's Holiday.Just a day earlier, trainer Ken McPeek was informed by Harlan's Holiday's owner, Jack Wolf, that Harlan's Holiday was being transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher. An assistant to Pletcher flew to Kentucky on Tuesday and accompanied the grade I winner to New York.