OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Four months ago, Mentee ran the fastest five furlongs on dirt in the history of Aqueduct. It may be awhile before he sees the dirt again. Friday, in his turf debut, Mentee took over from the pacesetting Epitaph outside the eighth pole then spurted clear to win the Grade 3, $175,000 Futurity by 3 1/2 lengths. Gate to Wire rallied to get second by a nose over Epitaph as trainer Todd Pletcher’s runners finished first and second. Epitaph finished two lengths clear of Under Who’s Radar, who was followed by In the Chase, I’m Otter Here and Joey Muscles. Chasing Liberty scratched to run in Sunday’s Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Mentee, a full brother to 2023 champion 2-year-old male Fierceness, won a maiden race on June 15 by a nose, running five furlongs on dirt in 56.97 seconds. Mentee had an illness during the summer which forced him to miss time and he went into the Grade 1 Hopeful perhaps a bit short and he finished sixth. Looking at options for Mentee this fall, Pletcher thought the turf might be one. Mentee is by City of Light, some progeny of whom have handled turf, and Pletcher felt Mentee had the action for the grass as well. A workout over the Saratoga training turf course went well enough to give the Futurity a try. “Felt like the timing and distance of the race suited him well,” Pletcher said. Breaking from post six under John Velazquez, Mentee broke well and took up a stalking position outside of Epitaph, who, under Junior Alvarado, set fractions of 22.38 seconds for the quarter and 45.36 for the half. Mentee took over from Epitaph just before the eighth pole and drew clear under Velazquez. Mentee, owned and bred by Mike Repole, covered the six furlongs in 1:08.82 and returned $10.20 as the third choice. On turf, Mentee seemed less speed-centric than he had been on dirt. “He drew a favorable post to [stalk], he looked like he was very relaxed, Johnny looked like he had plenty of horse the whole way,” Pletcher said. “When he asked him, he responded well so it was what we were hoping for.” Though the Futurity offered an automatic and fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint going five furlongs on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, Pletcher seemed more interested in the $1 million Juvenile Turf, run at one mile on the same day. While Mentee doesn’t get an automatic berth into that race, he would likely be selected into the field as a graded stakes winner. “We talked about it a little bit before, thought if he ran well this might be a good bridge to the mile instead of the five furlongs so we’ll see,” Pletcher said. Pletcher seemed inclined to point Gate to Wire to the Juvenile Turf if he could make it into the field. Speaking of Gate to Wire’s Futurity, Pletcher said, “It looked like he was kind of bottled up and still a little immature. Once he finally got clear then he really closed on well.” Gary Contessa, the trainer of third-place finisher Epitaph, said he hopes Pletcher sends both to the Juvenile Turf, because he would like to run his horse in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. “If they’re willing to let him in I’m going,” Contessa said. “The Del Mar turf course favors speed more than this one.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.