Plesa bids farewell to stable star Itsmyluckyday

MIAMI – There will be a lot of long faces around trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.’s barn at Gulfstream Park West on Monday when stable star Itsmyluckyday boards a van that will take him to New York. Itsmyluckyday is scheduled to make the final start of his career next Saturday at Aqueduct in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile.

Spendthrift Farm has acquired the breeding rights to Itsmyluckyday, who will stand stud at the farm in Lexington, Ky., next season. That means Plesa and his crew will bid adieu to the Grade 1 winner for the final time on Monday.

“I’m not going to be at Aqueduct for the Cigar Mile,” said Plesa. “I’m going to stay here to run Mr. Jordan in a stakes at Gulfstream Park West. There are a lot of sad people around this place, knowing he’s going to be leaving and not coming back. He’s not only a great horse but like the pet to everybody who works in this barn. He’s been a big part of the stable for everyone here the last couple of years, not just myself.”

The Cigar Mile will close out a stellar comeback year for Itsmyluckyday, whose 3-year-old campaign in 2013 was cut short when he fractured his pelvic bone during the Grade 3 Pegasus at Monmouth Park. Itsmyluckyday, who is owned by Plesa’s wife, Laurie, and the Trilogy Stable, has won 4 of 7 starts in 2014, including the Grade 1 Woodward. He also finished second in the Grade 1 Whitney. As a 3-year-old, Itsmyluckyday finished second in the Preakness and the Grade 1 Florida Derby.

Itsmyluckyday had his final tune-up for the Cigar Mile on Thursday morning, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.40 with jockey Paco Lopez aboard.

“I was happy with the work,” said Plesa. “He worked a little slower than I’d have liked the previous week, so we had him pick it up this time. We’ve done all we can do. He’s all set and ready to go.”

Plesa brought Itsmyluckyday down to his winter base at Gulfstream Park West following his third-place finish in the Kelso Handicap at Belmont on Sept. 27.

“I think it’s a benefit to train and work him over this surface,” said Plesa. “It’s deeper than most other tracks and really helps with his conditioning. He’ll be getting a lot of carrots and a lot of hugs from people around over the next few days. And while I won’t be there to see him run his final race in New York, it won’t be a big surprise if I’m there in Kentucky to greet him when he steps off the van at the farm.”

While he will have huge shoes to fill, Mr. Jordan has already served notice he could prove a replacement for Itsmyluckyday. Mr. Jordan, a 2-year-old son of Kantharos, is unbeaten and untested in two starts, including a three-length victory in the Juvenile Sprint Stakes here earlier this month. He will try two turns for the first time in Saturday’s $75,000 Smooth Air Stakes.

Sunday feature iffy for turf

The weather could be key to Sunday’s $37,000 allowance feature, carded for fillies and mares on turf. Showers are in the forecast here for the weekend, and as a result the race could come off the turf and be run on the main track.

Eleven were entered to go 1 1/16 miles, led by the Chad Brown-trained Madaket Millie, the Graham Motion-trained Lookout Raven, Aventurine from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, and Night Song, an Amy Tarrant charge who has been idle since finishing fifth after setting the pace in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga on Aug. 23.

◗ Jockey Joe Bravo is fast approaching the 5,000th victory of his career. Bravo had won 4,981 races entering Friday’s action, 117 of those tallies coming in graded stakes.