Life Is Good Keeps on Working for the Whitney

Like always, life was good at Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn early in the morning of July 22.

That's because the big horse, the aptly named Life Is Good , went to work. The 4-year-old colt, a son of Into Mischief  , took his next step towards the Aug. 6 Whitney Stakes (G1), drilling five furlongs in 1:02.05 on the main track at Saratoga Race Course.

The colt was ridden by regular exercise rider Amelia Green. He had a three-eighths split in :38 and galloped out in 1:14.80 for three quarters, 1:27.60 for seven-eighths, and 1:40.80 for the mile.

"He went super," said Elliott Walden, the president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm, which owns the horse along with the China Horse Club. "He always works good. That is what kind of separates the real good horses from good horses. Very rarely do they have a bad one at the racetrack and that is very, very unusual."

Life Is Good has won seven of his nine career starts. He has two wins in three starts this year, the last being the John A. Nerud Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park on July 2 by five lengths.

Since coming to Pletcher's barn—he spent the first part of his career in the California barn of Bob Baffert—Life Is Good has done nothing but impress his trainer.

"He is a beautiful horse," Pletcher said. "Very impressive to watch. Over the years, we will identify some horses that we call one percenters, the top horses we have had. He is kind of in the top 1% of the 1%."