[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by cakes44

Itsmyluckyday going to the BC dirt mile, or are they thinking this prep will be a little easier on the horse going into the classic?

Since 1984, only three horses have used a one-mile race as a springboard to victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic. On TVG Super Saturday at Belmont Park, trainer Eddie Plesa, Jr. is counting on the Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap to propel Grade 1 Woodward winner Itsmyluckyday into any one of three races, among them the 1 ¼-mile Classic at Santa Anita Park on November 1.

The one-mile Kelso - named after the great gelding who won five straight editions of the Jockey Club Gold Cup from 1960-64 - will be run as race 4, the first of six graded stakes on the 11-race card, the centerpiece of which is the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.

"We're looking at the Kelso not so much for what the race will tell us about him but as a prep for what's next," said Plesa, who said the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile or the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Racetrack were also under future consideration for Itsmyluckyday, a winner of four of six starts this year. "This weekend will be the final [Breeders' Cup] preps for all these horses. We're going to look and see what happens - so far, you have Palace Malice retiring, California Chrome not running his best race [in the Pennsylvania Derby] - so we'll wait to see what shakes out."

Per horseracingnation.com