Eddie Plesa Jr. to Retire After Florida Derby

One of the most successful and respected horsemen in Florida history, Eddie Plesa Jr., will saddle his last starter, Timeless Victory, for the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 28 at Gulfstream Park. "He's a longshot in the race. His last race I thought was an impressive race. He's coming into the race 110% and he's running at a distance he likes," said Plesa, whose 20-1 morning-line outsider is coming off a 6-length allowance victory on the stretch-out to the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby distance. Going out in a grade 1 is the way it should be for Plesa, who has a 28% win rate during the 2025-26 Championship Meet. For more than 40 years, Plesa has been the ultimate horsemen and, more importantly, one of the greatest ambassadors for the sport, not only in Florida, where he raised his family and recorded most of his 2,528 victories, but throughout North America. "I'm a second-generation horseman who came up the hard way. I've been to racetracks nobody ever heard of," said Plesa, who followed in the footsteps of his father Eddie Plesa Sr. into the training profession. "To come from the background that I did and then be able to say I had an opportunity to be on the big stage, I felt was quite an accomplishment. I was always the person who'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond." Plesa did it his way. He ran a successful and winning stable for more than four decades. The horses were always first. Not only did he win multiple graded races with horses such as Three Ring, Itsmyluckyday, Gottcha Gold, and Best of the Rest, as well as saddling multiple Florida Sire Stakes winners, he was a trainer who ran a stable that held its own in any condition race, over any surface, at any track. Three Ring won the 1999 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) and Bonnie Miss Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park before running in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Her final win came in the Acorn Stakes (G1). Itsmyluckyday earned more than $1.7 million in his career, which was highlighted by a win in the 2014 Woodward Stakes (G1) and a second in the 2013 Preakness Stakes (G1). Plesa was patient, and that was never more evident than in the training of Bea Oxenberg's homebred and graded stakes winner Best of the Rest. Despite four surgeries, a broken bone in his knee that necessitated 75 days of stall rest, and layoffs of nine and eight months at a time, Best of the Rest won 16 of 32 races between 1997 and 2003, including the Skip Away Handicap (G3) and $1 million Ocala Breeders' Sales Classic Stakes in 2003. When he won the OBS Classic at the age of 8, he did so by beating the 4-year-old Booklet, a winner of the 2002 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G1) and runner-up in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1). Plesa likened Best of the Rest to heavyweight fighter George Foreman. "He just doesn't stop." Oxenberg cried tears of joy in the winner's circle after the OBS Classic victory. More than the victories, however, many will remember Plesa as someone who truly loved the game and shared his knowledge and enthusiasm with others. No shortcuts. He didn't talk down to the media or fans but rather tried to educate them. He returned calls, took time to walk visitors down his shedrow no matter how busy or hectic the morning might be, and would help publicize the game any way he could. Along with his wife, Laurie, Plesa also helped those working in the industry—backstretch or frontside—whatever way they could. "I've had a great life in this business. My wife is from a racing family. Her father was a jockey, and so was mine. They rode together. Happenstance brings us together, and we get married," said Plesa, whose wife owns Timeless Victory with longtime partners Leon Ellman and Glassman Racing. "The highs far outweigh the lows. You have to have a thick skin in this business whether you're a trainer or whatever you do in this business, but it's been a great ride." Yes, there were graded wins and 2,528 victories. But for many, Plesa, at age 76, will simply be remembered as a true horseman. Someone who truly appreciated the sport, the media, the fans and, most importantly, the horses.