Life Is Good will leave for Dubai on March 14

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Life Is Good will have his final workout for the Dubai World Cup this weekend before being loaded on an overseas flight Monday for the $12 million race.

Life Is Good has worked the last four Fridays at Palm Beach Downs since his 3 1/4-length romp in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park, the latest being a sizzling five-furlong drill in 59.20 seconds. Trained by Todd Pletcher for WinStar Farm and China Horse Club, Life Is Good currently is the top-rated horse in various rankings in North America and beyond, including the latest NTRA weekly poll.

“He’s doing super,” WinStar president Elliott Walden said. “His work the other day was phenomenal. He came out of the Pegasus in great shape, and we’re really looking forward to running him in Dubai.”

Life Is Good, a 4-year-old Into Mischief colt, has won 6 of 7 races, with all but his first career start resulting in a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure. He got a 109 in winning the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a 110 in the $3 million Pegasus. Irad Ortiz Jr., who will ride the colt in Dubai, has been aboard for the last three starts.

Walden, a former standout trainer, was on hand Saturday at Gulfstream to watch Emmanuel finish fourth under the WinStar silks in the Fountain of Youth. He returned to Kentucky afterward but will be back in Florida this Saturday to watch Major General, co-owned by WinStar and Siena Farm, in his 3-year-old debut in the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs.

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The Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament also is being played in Tampa this weekend, but Walden said he hasn’t been able to work out the timing so as to watch his beloved Kentucky Wildcats in action.

“I don’t think we can swing that one,” he said. “But we’re definitely going to Dubai.”