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Pletcher Prepares Life Is Good For Kelso, Wit For Champagne

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher worked graded stakes winner Life Is Good a half-mile over the training track Saturday in preparation for Saturday's $300,000 Grade 2 Kelso Handicap, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Owned by CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm, the son of leading sire Into Mischief recorded his four-furlong move in :48.46 over a fast main track – the 17th fastest of 132 recorded works at the distance. This was a second work back for Life Is Good following a game runner-up effort in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, where he engaged in a dramatic stretch duel with Jackie's Warrior, coming up a neck shy of victory.

“I thought he worked super,” Pletcher said. “I was really pleased with the way he went and it looked like he was moving along there really well.”

Unbeaten in his previous three efforts, which include victories in the Grade 3 Sham and Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., this winter, Life Is Good will see an increase in ground from the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens.

“I think it's a good progression for him coming off the layoff and the one seven-eighths race.”

Pletcher also worked three-time Grade 1-winner Malathaat Saturday, who went an easy half-mile in :49.49 over the Belmont training track in her first breeze since winning the Grade 1 Alabama on August 19 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Pletcher said the Shadwell Stable-owned daughter of Curlin will train up to the $3 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff on November 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“It was her first work back and she did it well,” Pletcher said. “Her energy level is really good at the moment. We plan on training up to the Breeders' Cup.”

Also returning to the work tab for Pletcher was Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Gainesway Stable's Wit, who was second after stumbling at the start of the Grade 1 Hopeful on September 6 at Saratoga.

The son of freshman stallion Practical Joke went a half-mile in :49.93 over the Belmont training track and will target the $500,000 Grade 1 Champagne on October 2 – a “Win And You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 5 at Del Mar.

“He worked well,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully, we get a little cleaner break this time. It certainly hurt his chances, he fell on his head leaving there, but I thought he ran on courageously after that.”

Pletcher said Bass Stables homebred Annapolis, who broke his maiden on debut going two turns over Saratoga's inner turf by 4 ½ lengths, will target the $200,000 Grade 2 Pilgrim on October 3 at Belmont Park.

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Wit, Happy Saver Work In Preparation For Upcoming Saratoga Starts

Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Gainesway Stable's 2-year-old Wit, dominant winner of the Grade 3 Sanford July 17, put in his final preparation for the $300,000 Grade 1 Hopeful on September 6 with a half-mile breeze Sunday morning at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Wit, with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. up, went four furlongs in :49.22 over a main track rated fast, ranking 16th of 24 horses at the distance. It was the fifth work in Saratoga since an eight-length triumph in the six-furlong Sanford for Wit, who went five furlongs in 1:01.42 on the Oklahoma training track August 23, the fastest of five horses.

“[It was] a good maintenance work,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He had a really solid work last week so we were just kind of looking for the final prep, and it went smoothly.”

By Practical Joke out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Numero d'Oro, Wit fetched $575,000 as a yearling last fall at Keeneland. He was a six-length winner of his June 5 debut at Belmont Park, where he did all his prep work for the Sanford.

Wit's sire won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens in 2017, formerly the King's Bishop, in the first year it was renamed for the late Hall of Fame trainer. The Hopeful for 2-year-olds, like the Jerkens contested at seven furlongs, will be run on Labor Day, September 6 – closing day of the Saratoga meet.

“He's a really easy horse to train. He's very professional. He's very responsive to whatever you want him to do,” Pletcher said. “He'll sit off a horse and he'll accelerate on command. He's really been push-button so far.”

Wit worked in company with Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Power Agenda, purchased for $120,000 out of the same sale. A gutsy front-running nose winner of his debut, a six-furlong maiden special weight August 4 at Saratoga, Power Agenda was timed in :49.25 and is also under Hopeful consideration.

“Power Agenda worked well also. We'll see how he bounces out of it, but right now we're leaning toward running both,” Pletcher said. “He showed that he's got some fight to him. He had trained well leading up to it, so we weren't surprised, but we've been happy with the way he's come out of it.”

Pletcher said he was thrilled with the efforts of both Life Is Good and Following Sea, who respectively ran second and third in Saturday's Jerkens. CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good set blazing fractions of :21.97 and :44.16 and dug in through a protracted stretch duel with Jackie's Warrior before coming up a neck short.

Life Is Good joined Pletcher's stable earlier this summer and was racing for the first time since a victory in the Grade 2 San Felipe March 6 at Santa Anita for previous trainer Bob Baffert. The Jerkens marked his first loss in four career starts.

“Both horses came out of it in good order this morning,” Pletcher said. “[Life Is Good] ran a spectacular race off the layoff. [He] went really fast and just got nipped by a really good horse.”

Pletcher said there is no specific race yet picked out for Life Is Good following the Jerkens.

“We're kind of surveying all of our options,” he said. “We'll give it a little time just to digest the race and assess how he comes out of it. I think he's versatile enough that there's a lot of potential options.”

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Spendthrift Farm homebred Following Sea made a late run to be third, 8 ¾ lengths behind the top two. In his prior start, he finished third in a three-way photo finish in the Grade 1 Haskell July 17 at Monmouth Park but was elevated to second following the disqualification of top finisher Hot Rod Charlie.

“I thought he ran on well,” Pletcher said of the Jerkens. “He got a little confused when he got hit by dirt. He hadn't had a whole lot of experience with dirt in his face, but once he got going I thought he put in a nice run down the lane to get up for third.”

Wertheimer and Frere homebred Happy Saver, unraced since suffering his first loss in five career starts in the Grade 2 Suburban July 3 at Belmont, remains on track to defend his 2020 victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Previously held at Belmont, the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup for 3-year-olds and up going 1 ¼ miles was moved to Saratoga this year and will be run Saturday, September 4.

Happy Saver, whose other stakes win came in the 2020 Federico Tesio last September at Laurel Park in Laurel Md., has experience racing over at Saratoga, winning a 1 1/8-mile allowance last July in his second career start. He breezed five furlongs in 1:00.66 Saturday on Saratoga's main track.

“He worked well yesterday and looked good this morning,” Pletcher said. “We've kind of been pointing for this for a little while.”

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Sainthood Game to Get Mshawish First Stakes Win in Pennine Ridge

Sainthood, 11th last time in the GI Kentucky Derby, became the first black-type and graded stakes winner for his sire (by Medaglia d'Oro) with a resilient victory in this off-turf prep for the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S.

Beaten a head dirt sprinting at Gulfstream Jan. 9, the dark bay scored by a nose around two turns on the Fair Grounds main track Feb. 13. He earned a spot into the Derby starting gate with a runner-up finish in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks over Turfway Tapeta Mar. 27, and appeared to more or less run his race in the Derby at 43-1.

Favored among the five who stayed in here over put-up Federico Tesio S. winner The Reds, Sainthood broke on top but was well held by Joel Rosario and eventually conceded pacesetting duties to Shawdyshawdyshawdy. The Reds ranged up with a menacing move after a :48.56 half, prompting Rosario to give Sainthood his cue. The Reds poked a head in front and seemed to have all the momentum, but Sainthood boxed on gamely and pulled away late.

“I think he's a versatile colt, much like his sire Mshawish, who we trained and won graded stakes on dirt and turf for us,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said of his charge. “This horse has run well on dirt and synthetic and slop today. I thought he actually ran a solid race in the Derby. He didn't disgrace himself by any means for a colt as lightly raced as he was. His two works here on the turf I thought were pretty impressive. We came into today hoping to get him on the turf, but it's also great to have one as versatile as he is who can run on just about anything.”

The 2021 Hall of Fame inductee continued, “When he broke his maiden, he was really green and didn't appreciate being alone. He's better with a target. One thing I told Joel [Rosario] in the paddock was that I wasn't sure who the target was going to be. That was my biggest concern. I told Joel to just be aware that he was better with a target and if he was fortunate enough to make the lead, he might idle a bit. Part of it was, when he made the lead he got a little bit lost and [The Reds] put a head in front of him and he fought back.”

As for whether or not Sainthood would make his delayed turf debut in the July 10 Belmont Derby, Pletcher said, “”We got a good prep for it if we decide to go that way. It's good to have a horse with this many options. We'll talk to the team and come up with a plan, but that will be towards the top of the list.”

Saturday, Belmont Park
PENNINE RIDGE S.-GIII*, $194,000, Belmont, 5-29, 3yo, 1 1/8m (off turf), 1:50.57, sy.
1–SAINTHOOD, 118, c, 3, by Mshawish
            1st Dam: Lemon Hero (SP, $129,819), by Lemon Drop Kid
            2nd Dam: Bright Gold, by Hold for Gold
            3rd Dam: Bright 'n Early, by Northern Jove
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($100,000
Ylg '19 KEEJAN; $90,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $62,000 Ylg '19
OBSOCT). O-WinStar Farm LLC and CHC INC.; B-Edward Taylor
& Springland Farm (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Joel Rosario.
$110,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-2-0, $201,900. *First black-
type and graded stakes winner for sire (by Medaglia d'Oro).
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–The Reds, 120, c, 3, Tonalist–Ash Zee, by Exchange Rate.
($14,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEEJAN; $115,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP;
$130,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Flanagan Racing; B-R. S. Evans
(KY); T-John C. Kimmel. $40,000.
3–Shawdyshawdyshawdy, 118, c, 3, Summer Front–Shea
Darby, by Street Sense. O-Lawrence & Jennifer Goichman;
B-Larry Goichman (KY); T-Jorge R. Abreu. $24,000.
Margins: 1, 5, 7. Odds: 0.90, 1.95, 14.40.
Also Ran: Safe Conduct, Minuteman (Ger). Scratched: Hard Love, Public Sector (GB), Shaftesbury, Step Dancer. *Automatically downgraded when taken off the turf. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Globe-trotting Mshawish was a stakes winner and group-placed in France and then Group 2 winner on turf in Dubai for Mikel Delzangles before joining the Pletcher barn for the second half of 2014. He took the 2015 GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. and was third in that year's G1 Dubai World Cup before annexing the GI Donn H. on the Gulfstream dirt the following season. Mshawish is finishing up his third year at Taylor Made Stallions.

The winner's dam won twice on the dirt but was stakes-placed sprinting on the sod. The daughter of MSW Bright Gold and half to SW Satin Gold (English Channel) sold for $15,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January sale carrying a Midnight Storm colt now named Onemoreandthecheck.

Sainthood becomes the 73rd stakes winner (24th group or graded) out of a mare by Lemon Drop Kid. He is bred like GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint upsetter Bar of Gold (Medaglia d'Oro).

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Life Is Good Exits Breeze ‘A Little Off Behind,’ To Miss Santa Anita Derby

The unbeaten Into Mischief colt Life Is Good will not be entered in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 3 after coming out of a six-furlong breeze on Saturday morning “a little off behind,” according to his trainer, Bob Baffert.

“It's nothing obvious but he cooled off a little behind,” said Baffert. “So he's going to miss the Santa Anita Derby and we've got to do some tests on him. The timing is not good.”

Baffert does not believe the setback will be career ending.

“He would show a little something while cooling out, but then he would walk fine,” he said. “They'll do a scan to see what they can find.”

Life Is Good worked alone at about 9 a.m. PT, going six furlongs in 1:11.40 and galloping out well past the seven-eighths pole. Santa Anita officials lit up the video screen in the field at Baffert's request after jockey Mike Smith said the colt was bothered by the screen when he last ran in the G2 San Felipe on March 6, winning by eight lengths but drifting in and out in the stretch.

“His work was unbelievable,” Baffert said. “He went perfectly straight. They had the screen on and he went around there like nothing. He was good. Then, all of a sudden, you get an uppercut like this. That's why you can't get ahead of yourself in this game.”

Workout video courtesy of XBTV.com.

Bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West, Life Is Good races for WinStar Farm and CHC Inc., which purchased the colt for $525,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He broke his maiden at Del Mar in November, then added the G3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 2 before his victory in the San Felipe.

Life Is Good was made the 2-1 favorite in the most recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool.

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