Todd Pletcher, in town Tuesday for a UA symposium on the racetrack industry, trained horses that earned $27 million this year.

lindsay a. miller / arizona daily star

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He makes his millions in the dirt, with mud on his boots and a hat on his head, but when the world's No. 1 thoroughbred trainer walked through the lobby at the Westin La Paloma on Tuesday, there were no flies on Todd Pletcher.

Heads turned.

Outfitted in a black business suit, his silver hair slicked back, looking more Wall Street than Gordon Gekko, Pletcher undeniably has a presence in any crowd.

And he wanted to talk UA basketball.

"It's strange that on the day the Wildcats are playing at Madison Square Garden, I'm back in Tucson,'' the 1989 UA grad (animal science) said with a smile. "It might've been somewhat awkward, though. I'm a huge UA fan, but I train a horse for (Louisville coach) Rick Pitino.''

Todd Pletcher, married with three children, trained horses that earned more than $27 million in this year. No other trainer exceeded $9 million.

He has gone far beyond his esteemed mentor, D. Wayne Lukas, and he has lapped (two or three times) the camera-ready trainer who gets far more attention, fellow UA grad Bob Baffert.

All of this has come at a price for 39-year-old Pletcher, who arises at 4 a.m., about 350 days of the year, employs 150 people, including five assistant trainers, and is a hands-on overseer for 205 horses in five states.

"When I met Todd at the Kentucky Derby seven years ago, he had a head of dark hair,'' says Mac McBride, an executive at San Diego's Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. "And now he's completely gray.''

Pletcher is for the first time participating in the UA's globally significant Racetrack Industry Symposium, now in its 33rd year. He was introduced Tuesday not as the man who trained a record 17 horses in last month's Breeders' Cup, but rather as a "super-trainer,'' a term the industry created to define his impact in the sport.

All of this makes his former UA roommate, Chris Halligan, chuckle.

"We both got out of the UA on schedule, with our degrees, in four years,'' says Halligan, an entrepreneur living in the Washington, D.C., area. "But let's just say they got to know who we were at Dirtbag's,'' a popular campus watering hole.

"The thing with Todd is, he knew what he wanted and had a vision from the day he got to Tucson. His father, Jake, a career horseman, provided the direction he needed.''

Pletcher has added the polish, which makes the difference between being a trainer who simply is good with horses and a trainer-businessman who has been able to work productively with more than 100 owners, wealthy people, who trust Pletcher with million-dollar investments.

"His clients are some of the richest people in the world,'' says Halligan. "They expect a certain level of professionalism. Todd can run in any circle.''

If there is a knock on Pletcher it is that he is 0 for 14 at the Kentucky Derby. In the racing industry, he is what Phil Mickelson used to be to golf. Not that it really matters; Pletcher has the respect of the industry and a couple of decades left to win at Churchill Downs.

Pressure?

Can you imagine 100 millionaires, his bosses, phoning each day, wanting to hear some good news about the horse they have put in Pletcher's vast stable.

"You're responsible for the horses 365 days a year,'' he says. "It's a 24/7 job that's not for everyone. But for me, it's a lot of fun. I might not be doing this for 25 more years, but as long as my family enjoys it, and they do, I'm going to keep at it.''

In Todd We Trust, right? Isn't that what the Breeders' Cup buttons said?

Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. told reporters at the Breeders' Cup that spending a day with Pletcher wore him out.

"Todd wants to be No. 1, and if it takes training 300 horses, that's what he'll do,'' he said, noting that most high-profile thoroughbred trainers stable 30 to 50 horses. "I don't know how long he can keep this up, but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down. I was going to be his driver one day but, as it turned out, I fell asleep in the back seat of the car. Todd drove me home.

"He touches every horse that he trains; there isn't one that escapes him. When everybody goes home at night, he goes to every stall and runs his hand down every horse's leg. He never stops. It's amazing.''

Pletcher's rare visit to Tucson was well calculated. In at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Out at 8 a.m. today. Now that he has horses in California for the first time — 17 of them boarding at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles — his operation has gone coast to coast.

At the Breeders' Cup, with 45 employees in his support group, Pletcher insisted on putting the saddle on all 17 of his horses. None of his horses finished first, yet he earned $3.5 million for his clients.

"He delivers,'' says Halligan. "That's the only way you get to be No. 1.''