Itsmyluckyday pointed to Kelso Handicap

ELMONT, N.Y. – Woodward Stakes winner Itsmyluckyday is being pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap on the Jockey Club Gold Cup undercard, trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said Thursday.

The Kelso is a one-turn, one-mile race and could open up more options for Itsmyluckyday, such as the Breeders’ Cup or perhaps the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in late November. Itsmyluckyday is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup and would have to be supplemented to whichever race he might run in.

“It’ll be a little easier race for him,” Plesa said. “I like the distance. I like what it might accomplish as far as his next race, whatever that might be.”

Plesa said running in either the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles or the BC Dirt Mile still is possible.

“What Breeders’ race do you run? Part of the process is, ‘Let’s see what happens after the 27th, how it shakes out, which horses are going to show up where,’ ” Plesa said.

Plesa said the presence in the Kelso of the undefeated Atreides, who has been dominant in winning his first three starts, makes no difference to him.

“He’s a little bit like we were,” Plesa said. “We beat up on lesser horses [at Monmouth]. Now we’re in the big leagues.”

Most of Itsmyluckyday’s races have been around two turns. In his 3-year-old debut, Itsmyluckyday won the Gulfstream Park Derby, a one-turn mile. In his 4-year-old debut, his first start back from injury, Itsmyluckyday finished fourth to Palace Malice in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, also a one-turn mile. Plesa said Itsmyluckyday wasn’t completely fit to run in that race.

“I don’t think it makes a difference to him whatsoever,” Plesa said about race configuration. “One turn, two turns, straightaway, up a mountain, down a mountain – he’s really doing well right now.”