Mr. Jordan helps Plesa celebrate decision to stay in Florida

MIAMI – Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. recently announced his intention to return to his roots and race year round in south Florida in 2018. He celebrated that decision on Saturday in the winner’s circle at his old stomping grounds, Gulfstream Park West (formerly known at Calder Race Course), following Mr. Jordan’s 11 1/2-length victory in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview.

Plesa, a perennial leading trainer at Calder for over two decades, has split his time over the past 10 years between Gulfstream Park in the winter and Monmouth Park during the summer. But at this stage of his career, he felt it was time to stay in Florida.

“I have 28 horses at Palm Meadows at the moment,” said Plesa. “If I can pick up five or six more, that would be great. But I’m not looking to have 60 horses again. I’m happy where I’m at right now, and my owners, all of whom have been so loyal to me over the years, are happy to be racing down here year round again as well.”

So, too, is Mr. Jordan, who is now perfect in four starts at Gulfstream Park West after easily defending his title in the 1 1/16-mile Classic Preview with one of the best performances of his career. He earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure while increasing his earnings to nearly $700,000 for David Mellin, Leon Ellman, and Plesa’s wife, Laurie. Mr. Jordan was ridden for the first time by Edgard Zayas, who won three stakes and four races overall on Saturday’s card.

“Obviously he loves this racetrack,” said Plesa. “And Edgard got along with him great. Paco Lopez gets along with him better than anyone, but Paco is not here. That was my concern. But Edgard had confidence in him, did exactly what I told him, and he rode a great race.”

Plesa, who has won over 2,300 races and 173 stakes, tried Mr. Jordan against open company a couple of times last winter in graded stakes at Gulfstream Park following his victory in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview, but with little success. This time, he plans to keep him with statebreds and point for the Sunshine Millions Classic in January.

Mr. Jordan and Zayas were the two top stars, but the Sunshine Millions Preview program featured several other performances of note.

Mike Maker was the only trainer to win two stakes on Saturday, sending out Enterprising to a last-to-first victory in the Turf Preview and Home Made Salsa to capture the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

A pair of promising 2-year-olds, Silver Bay and Wildcat’s Legacy, kept their records unblemished, winning the Juvenile Fillies Sprint and Juvenile Sprint, respectively. Silver Bay, a daughter of Currency Swap, upset two-time Florida Sire Stakes winner Starship Bonita, withstanding early pace pressure and holding on by a neck over the odds-on Starship Bonita in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint for trainer William Hickey. Wildcat’s Legacy, with Zayas up, posted a 3 1/2-length triumph in the Juvenile Sprint for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies-winning trainer Ralph Nicks.

Trainer Stanley Gold had a frustrating day on Saturday, but was happy to report that Blonde Bomber had come back well from her third-place finish behind the Nicks-trained Caledonia Road one week earlier in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“I had really bad luck here today,” said Gold shortly after his Richard the Great had finished a distant second behind Mr. Jordan in the Classic Preview. “I had two horses grab a quarter, another run down badly, and a fourth lose a shoe during the race. I do think Richard the Great ran well and I think if he’d had a race around two turns he’d have finished stronger, although he probably would not have caught Mr. Jordan. I’m sure he’ll go a lot better when we send him long a second time, which we’ll probably do when we get back to Gulfstream.”

Blonde Bomber rallied from last and fell just a neck shy of being second in the BC Juvenile Fillies, finishing 3 1/2 lengths behind Caledonia Road. Blonde Bomber and Caledonia Road are stabled only a furlong or so away on the Gulfstream backstretch, and likely are destined to meet again as 3-year-olds.

Gold trains the homebred Blonde Bomber for Alan Cohen’s Arindel Farm.

“I thought she ran great,” he said. “I was very happy with her performance, and obviously two turns is what she wants to do. We’re going to take it easy on her and let her put some weight on until we decide what to do next. The 3-year-old series at Gulfstream starts at seven furlongs and a mile before going to a mile and one-sixteenth, so we’ll have to decide if we want to turn her back and use those first races as stepping-stones, or look somewhere else, like Tampa or the Fair Grounds, that have two turn stakes for 3-year-olds earlier in the winter.”