Itsmyluckyday, Moreno Well After Slugfest
The trainers of Itsmyluckyday and Moreno, the top two finishers from the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward, both said their horses came back in good shape following their epic confrontation on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
In a rematch of the Grade 1 Whitney, run August 2, Itsmyluckyday turned the tables and got the best of the front-running Moreno in a race-long battle that ended with Itsmyluckyday prevailing by a half-length.
The race put the two on course for perhaps a third meeting in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and, if Itsmyluckyday's trainer Eddie Plesa changes his mind, a meeting in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 27 at Belmont Park.
"He came out of the race 110 percent," Plesa said. "A little tired but, as far as wear and tear, 110 percent."
For the time being, Plesa said he does not see the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 1 ¼-mile race, in the plans for Itsmyluckyday, but he left the door open to the possibility.
"My thinking is I don't want to run four races in a row that are going to be that tough; that would include if we're going to run in the Breeders' Cup," said the Monmouth Park-based trainer. "I like to give my horses a little bit of a break. If the ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup, I have to be sure we're going into the race 110 percent. I don't want to think we've maybe run him one too many. The great [trainer] Horatio Luro said, 'You don't want to squeeze the lemon too dry.'"
Plesa also said the Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso at a mile on the same card as the Jockey Club Gold Cup could be an option, as is the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again on September 27 at Santa Anita Park, site of the Breeders' Cup.
"He'll tell me," Plesa said. "He could come out bucking and kicking and saying, 'I'm ready to run again. That's my job to figure out when that is."
Moreno's trainer, Eric Guillot, meantime, said the Jockey Club Gold Cup is his primary target.
"I always was planning that," he said. "Thirty days, 30 days, 30 days, babysit him, babysit him, run him. The horse hasn't been out of form since he broke his maiden. He has been 9-for-12 triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. Who else has that?"
Guillot, despite finishing second, was in a boastful mood Sunday morning.
"He'll win the [Breeders' Cup] Classic by five; you all can put it in the press," he said of Moreno.
Asked why, Guillot answered, "Because I said it."
Source: NYRA