Itsmyluckyday Preparing for His Return

Itsmyluckyday Preparing for His Return                            10 Oct '13
 by Jim Freer

Itsmyluckyday is recovering from a back injury and is on target to return to racing within several months, according to his assistant trainer Frank Perez.

Itsmyluckyday has been one of 2013's top 3-year-olds, with wins in two stakes races at Gulfstream Park followed by second place finishes in the Florida Derby (Grade 1) at Gulfstream and the Preakness Stakes (Grade 1) at Pimlico.

On June 18, he fractured his Ilium, a bone in the pelvic region, during  the Pegasus Stakes (Grade 3) at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Jockey Mike Smith pulled Itsmyluckyday up midway through the race.

No surgery was done on Itsmyluckyday, who is trained by Eddie Plesa, Jr.  The horse has been resting and recuperating at a farm in Kentucky.

"He's coming along well, and we'll bring him back down here in a couple of days," Perez said at Gulfstream on Oct. 5th. Itsmyluckyday will go to Gulfstream's Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach. Plesa will watch the horse's training progress before picking a return race, Perez said.

The comeback race for Itsmyluckyday will probably be at Gulfstream or at Calder Casino & Race Course. Over the Oct. 5th-6th weekend, Plesa was at Monmouth Park. He divides his summers between that track and South Florida, with Perez heading operations at Gulfstream and Calder when Plesa is in New Jersey.

Itsmyluckyday has won five of 13 starts and has earned $830,100.

At Gulfstream this year, he won the one-mile Gulfstream Park Derby and set a track record of 1:41.81 for 1 1/16 miles in winning the Holy Bull (Grade 3)..

He then finished second to Orb in the Florida Derby.

Itsmyluckyday finished 15th in the Kentucky Derby, which Orb won on a sloppy track. Several days later, Plesa said he "drew a line through the race" because Itsmyluckyday had difficulty with the track. He rebounded to finish second to Oxbow in the Preakness. Itsmyluckyday is owned by Laurie Plesa, Eddie's wife, and Trilogy Stable.

The partners in Trilogy are David and Olga Melin, who live in Sunny Isles Beach, and Marion Montanari.

Itsmyluckyday is a Kentucky-bred son of Lawyer Ron. In 2007, Lawyer Ron won the Whitney and the Woodward, both Grade 1 at  1 1/8 miles at  Saratoga.