Plesa to retire after Florida Derby
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Eddie Plesa Jr., one of the most successful trainers on the South Florida racing scene for the past five decades, will call it quits after sending out Timeless Victory here Saturday in the $1 million Florida Derby.
Plesa, a dominant figure from the time Calder Race Course first opened in 1970 until its closing 50 years later, will come into the Florida Derby with 2,528 lifetime victories and purse earnings of nearly $65 million. He was down to only a handful of horses here this winter. Along with Timeless Victory, that string also included the promising 3-year-old filly Sweet Ember, runner-up in the Any Limit Stakes earlier this month. Both horses will be transferred to Plesa’s brother-in-law John Servis after the Florida Derby.
Plesa’s top horses included Grade 1 winners Itsmyluckyday and Three Ring. Itsmyluckyday took the Grade 1 Woodward and several other graded stakes and also was second in the 2013 Preakness. The ill-fated Three Ring, who died in a paddock accident before the 1999 Mother Goose at Belmont Park, won the Grade 1 Acorn. She also accounted for two other graded stakes at Gulfstream in the spring of that year.
“It wasn’t the Lasix or HISA or the uncertainty about the racing down here that’s chasing me out, although all of those things contributed to the decision,” Plesa said. “I just felt it’s time for me to leave. I’ve been very lucky. I’m healthy, my wife is healthy, and it’s not going to impact my style of living by getting out. And I don’t know how many people training horses can say that.”
Plesa, 74, said his biggest regret is leaving behind the people who have been so loyal to him over the years.
“I have several people in the barn who have spent so much time with me,” Plesa said. “Two of them have been with me for 30 years and another for at least 15. That’s the one thing about this decision that bothers me the most, but I am going to be taking away so many great memories – horses like Itsmyluckyday and Three Ring, as well as racing in South Florida as a whole with Calder being such a big highlight. What a great place.
“But I could see the writing on the wall after Calder closed. Racing will never be the same again. I’ve seen the best of it. I’m really happy right now and I’m going out in great fashion.”
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