Anything to be read from Cowboy Cal staying on grass?

First a worthy note (or disclaimer): Trainer Todd Pletcher is one of the best in the game and these days he is fortunate to annually have the problem of sorting his top 3-year-olds among the different Kentucky Derby prep races around the country early in the season. Perhaps no horseman plans better and his success with many top 3-year-old speaks for itself.

You know where I'm going with this.

Cowboy Cal, regarded as one of this year's top Derby contenders from the country's top barn, has been breezing bullets at Palm Beach Downs in South Florida for what many assumed would be his return to the main track for a highly-anticipated run in a major Derby prep race – like the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park next Sunday, Feb. 24.

That's not the case.

Instead, Pletcher is keeping Cowboy Cal on the surface he is undefeated over, as the son of Giant's Causeway is set to make his fourth consecutive start on turf in Saturday's listed $100,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes at Gulfstream. By taking this path, Pletcher sites timing and surface as big factors because of the colt's lite frame and build. He also mentions current plans call for Cowboy Cal to make his subsequent start in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) over Keeneland's Polytrack before a bid for the roses in May.

Hmm.

If you are a fan of Cowboy Cal for this year's Kentucky Derby, a couple of red flags just surfaced – at least in my eyes.

First of all, Cowboy Cal has not raced in nearly seven weeks, and if what Pletcher told the BloodHorse in a recent article is correct, he would not run in another eight weeks following Saturday's race. Aside from the obvious myriad of concerns this would raise heading into a race like the Derby, one would have to believe this means that Cowboy Cal leaves a lot on the racetrack when he runs and the effects take their toll on the colt following his races.

Another serious concern would be how effective Cowboy Cal's camp feels he can be on the dirt. His only start on dirt is the lone blemish on his record, but that came as a first-time starter while sprinting at a tough race meet last summer at Saratoga. Digging into his pedigree, you don't have to go back far on his female side to find that his dam is a half-sister to Behrens, a millionaire and top dirt performer around the turn of the century.

I was willing to draw a line through his debut on dirt, and I felt his pedigree was very versatile and plenty suited for success on the main track. While that could still be the case – as Pletcher insists he trains well on traditional dirt - the fact Cowboy Cal remains on a path that would take him to the Derby without a start on dirt at three cannot sit comfortably with his followers.

If he were to run in next Sunday's 1 1/8-mile Fountain of Youth, which doesn't appear to be coming up extremely tough, it would afford Cowboy Cal seven weeks before the Blue Grass Stakes on April 12th. Seven weeks is still considered a tremendous amount of time in between starts, and on top of that, Cowboy Cal would be running for $350,000 worth of graded earnings. He currently owns $57,660 in graded earnings, which is far from what would qualify him for making the 20-horse gate in the Kentucky Derby if it were to oversubscribe.

Since Saturday's Hallandale Beach is a non-graded event, all of Cowboy Cal's proverbial eggs-in-the-basket appear to be placed on the Blue Grass Stakes over a synthetic surface he has likely never stepped foot on and certainly never raced on.

Is there a message being sent here that horse players and racing fans should be reading into? Or is Team Cowboy Cal still very confident in their colt when it comes to this year's Kentucky Derby picture?

I'll admit this much: I was a Cowboy Cal fan after he broke his maiden last September and always felt he'd develop into a colt that could make some noise on the dirt as a 3-year-old. His pair of turf stakes wins since have impressed me and I've been anxiously anticipating his return to dirt, which I expected to be the Fountain of Youth.

We'll eventually see how it all shakes out for Cowboy Cal, but when he was entered in the Hallandale over a major dirt prep, he fell several spots in my imaginary and worthless Kentucky Derby Top 10.

That was my read.