Life Is Good passes Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile test with flying colors in Kelso Handicap
Life Is Good met older rivals for the first time Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park and made short work of his competition, winning off by five and a half lengths in a performance that could send him to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
“That’s what we had talked about prior to this race,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher told the press office at Belmont. “I’ll assess how he comes out of it and talk to the connections.”
Fort Peck finished second in the Kelso, while it was another three and three-quarter lengths back in third to Doubly Blessed. Chance It was pulled up down the backstretch and vanned off. The race went with a field of four horses following the scratch of Informative. There was no show, trifecta or superfecta wagering.
Life Is Good ($2.10) broke with the field, quickly moved to the fore, and proceeded to set a controlled pace. He took his rivals through an opening quarter in 23.53 seconds while chased by Chance It. Life Is Good continued to lead through a half-mile in 46.58 seconds and six furlongs in 1:10.24.
In the stretch, jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., asked Life Is Good for some separation from Fort Peck. The horse responded and finished in hand, covering the one-turn mile on a fast track in 1:34.37, and getting a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.
"As soon as I asked him, he took off," Ortiz told publicity. “He responded really well."
Pletcher said he thought the performance was an impressive one from Life Is Good.
“We weren’t going to send him away from there, but it looked on paper like he was the main speed,” he said. “What we were focused on was getting him to settle a little bit, stay on the rail and relax. I thought he did that beautifully today.
“[Irad] asked him to run a little bit at the top of the stretch and wrapped up on him late. He galloped out well.”
Life Is Good is a 3-year-old son of Into Mischief who races for CHC Inc., and WinStar Farm. He has now won 4 of 5 starts, with the first-place check of $165,000 from the Kelso pushing his career earnings to $539,200.
Life Is Good has now won three stakes, with his other stakes victories the Grade 2 San Felipe and Grade 3 Sham, both earlier this year at Santa Anita. He came into the Kelso off a second-place finish in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Aug. 28 at Saratoga. The start was his first in six months and his first for Pletcher after the horse started his career in Southern California with trainer Bob Baffert.
The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will be run around two turns Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Life Is Good won his career debut at Del Mar in November 2020.