Woodward among options for Life Is Good en route to BC Classic

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 the year-end objective, Life Is Good will likely have one race before then, with the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 1 at the top of the list of options.

From a timing perspective, the Woodward or the Lukas Classic - a 1 1/8-mile race at Churchill Downs a date for which has not yet been announced though it is expected to be Oct. 1 - appear to be the best options. The Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again is also run Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, but a cross-country trip seems unlikely with the Breeders’ Cup being held at Keeneland.

With the Belmont Park meet being contested at Aqueduct this fall, the Woodward would be run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns. At Belmont, the Woodward is run around one turn at 1 1/8 miles.

“I think in this case, being around two turns instead of at Belmont around one turn, might actually be more beneficial for the Classic,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.

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On Saturday, Life Is Good won the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga by two lengths over stablemate Happy Saver with Hot Rod Charlie and Olympiad finishing third and fourth, respectively. Life Is Good earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Pletcher was impressed by the performance for multiple reasons - the conditions were hot and humid and the track was quite demanding after having been sealed for two races following mid-day rain and then harrowed before the Whitney.

“All of the things that could work against his brilliance, thankfully did not,” Pletcher said.

Additionally, Pletcher was impressed with the sustained run Life Is Good put in having taken off on jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. when the field turned up the backside.

“He put in such a long, sustained run, really from the three-quarter pole he kind of set sail,” Pletcher said. “His ability to do that and keep going is what makes him such a special horse, such a rare talent.”

In midstretch, Life Is Good did veer in a few paths on stablemate Happy Saver, though he was clear of him at that point. Pletcher believes it was just an overreaction on Ortiz’s part to seeing Happy Saver, under John Velazquez, rallying along the inside after having been more concerned about Hot Rod Charlie from the outside.

“When he looked inside and saw Happy Saver making a move he kind of wanted to make sure Life Is Good was able to see him and probably overreacted a little bit,” Pletcher said. “He was clear. Johnny said when he angled back out Life Is Good was finding just a little more than he was.”

Happy Saver finished second for the fifth consecutive race, all graded stakes. Pletcher said the Jockey Club Gold Cup here on Sept. 3 is possible, or if he needs more time then “he’ll probably go to a prep that Life Is Good does not go to,” Pletcher said.

Hot Rod Charlie left Saratoga on Sunday morning and was headed back to Keeneland, where he has been training since the spring and where he’ll continue to train through the Breeders’ Cup. Trainer Doug O’Neill, reached Sunday by phone in California, said he was proud of his colt’s effort and the race “is more evidence that a mile and an eighth is still not his perfect distance; a mile and a quarter, a mile and a half, is more to his liking.

“When you give a great horse like Life Is Good an uncontested lead you’re probably going to be in trouble,” O’Neill said.

While logistically the Lukas Classic is a race that makes sense for Hot Rod Charlie, O’Neill did not rule out a return trip to Saratoga for the Jockey Club Gold Cup since it is run at 1 1/4 miles.

“It’s a possibility,” said O’Neill, who added he’s only had perfunctory conversations with the owners.

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Olympiad, who had won five consecutive races heading into the Whitney, finished fourth, beaten 9 1/4 lengths in the Whitney. Jockey Junior Alvarado told trainer Bill Mott Olympiad was empty around the half-mile pole.

“I thought he was in perfect position when he headed down the backside, Junior said by the time he got to the five-eighths pole something was different,” Mott said. “He rode him as he had iin the past and he said there was no response.”

Mott said he would consider running Olympiad back in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“That gives you four weeks and it was kind of a non-effort yesterday,” Mott said.

Should Olympiad run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he would likely face the Pletcher pair of Americanrevolution, who scratched out of Saturday’s Whitney, and Dynamic One, winner of the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont in July.