6/8 (BEL) 145th Belmont Stakes: Field at 14 as 'Tiz' passes

[Calzone Lord]

Itsmyluckyday is not running in the Belmont...going to take on Verrazano in the Pegasus.

With the copycat nature of horse racing, just imagine if he had won the Kentucky Derby with the way he was trained.

Itsmyluckyday was given almost all of February off. He went into the Florida Derby off a layoff, and came into the Kentucky Derby with probably the most bizarre/conservative training pattern in the entire history of the Derby. However, before the Preakness, he worked 47 flat at Monmouth.

It kind of felt like trainer Eddie Pleasa Jr. didn't think this was a classic distance horse ... as he was clearly managing him like a horse who he wanted to have peaking going into the Preakness and Haskell (9f at his home track) instead of a horse being primed for the Derby.

Itsmyluckyday has run 3 triple digit Beyer figures in fast track dirt routes this year ... current division leader Orb has 0 triple digit figures on a fast track.

But, Orb leads 2-to-1 in the head-to-head match-ups ... although those two wins came when Orb was at the peak of his form cycle and Itsmyluckyday was coming back from a layoff and was kid gloved into those two races where Orb beat him.