Mr. Jordan proves he's more than a one-track pony

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Any notion that Mr. Jordan couldn’t win a race at Gulfstream Park finally ended late Saturday afternoon after the gray gelding ran down the Grade 2-placed Kroy to capture the Big Drama Stakes under regular rider Edgard Zayas.

The Big Drama was the first victory in 13 lifetime starts at Gulfstream for Mr. Jordan, a 6-year-old son of Kantharos trained by Eddie Plesa Jr.

“I do agree, he’s always liked Calder better,” said Plesa in reference to the track now called Gulfstream Park West. “But a lot of his losses at Gulfstream over the years have been due to circumstances. He’s finished well enough in enough big races here not to worry about him running over this track. If I ever felt he really didn’t like the surface, I wouldn’t be down here this summer. It just took a little while to get the monkey off his back.”

Plesa shortened Mr. Jordan up to seven furlongs for the Big Drama, a race restricted to Florida-breds but that drew a graded stakes-caliber field that also included the graded stakes winner Three Rules, who finished a distant fifth as the 3-2 favorite in his 2018 bow.

“I always thought seven-eighths to a mile was his optimum distance,” Plesa said of Mr. Jordan, pointing out that the gelding had some notable wins at distances from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles, including the Grade 3 Pegasus in 2015. “He’s kind of a peculiar horse. You can’t put just anyone on him and expect him to run his race. Edgard did a great job with him Saturday. He had him close up stalking the pace and doing it the way I liked to see him do it. And this was one of the very, very few races where he hasn’t drifted out once he got to the top of the stretch. He held his lane the whole way. The field came up a lot tougher than I expected for this type of race, so all in all, this win was very gratifying.”

Plesa said he has no definite plans for Mr. Jordan’s next start, although he said he would consider the Grade 3 Smile Sprint at six furlongs on the June 30 Summit of Speed card.

“I’ll look at the Summit,” said Plesa. “When you’re down here for the summer, you’re kind of on an island, with not a lot of opportunities, so I have to consider the Smile after the way he ran this last race.”

Plesa, who won numerous training titles at the old Calder Race Course, has been splitting his time between South Florida and Monmouth Park since 2006, but decided to race exclusively at Gulfstream Park this summer.

“We sold our house in New Jersey and I’ve made a commitment to come back down here full time,” said Plesa, whose wife, Laurie, is part owner of Mr. Jordan. “I’ve got about 25 horses stabled at Gulfstream at the moment, including a bunch of nice 2-year-olds we recently purchased, mostly Florida-breds, at the last two sales.”