Elliott Walden is not ready to proclaim Life Is Good as Horse of the Year for 2022.
Now in mid-summer, it looks like a two-horse race to the wire for championship honors after China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good motored to a two-length victory in the $925,000 Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 6 at a steamy Saratoga Race Course.
"He's one of them," said Walden, the CEO, president, and racing manager of WinStar Farm when asked about who was the best horse in America. "He and Flightline have separated themselves."
On a day when a crowd of 39,478 turned out at Saratoga, and all-sources handle was $40.2 million, Life Is Good came into Saturday's test ranked second behind the undefeated Flightline in the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top 10. While only four rivals faced him in the Whitney, one of them was Olympiad , a winner of four straight graded stakes and third in the NTRA poll.
With Life Is Good winning for the eighth time in 10 starts Saturday and Olympiad fading to fourth at the wire, the Whitney added some clarity to the year-end title chase while once again vividly illustrating just how special of a talent Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and the connections have in Life Is Good.
"When God thought about a horse, he thought about Life Is Good, because he just flies," Walden said about the son of Into Mischief who was bred by Gary and Mary West and has earned $4,086,700. "We're very proud. He showed who he is (today). He's a special horse. It's a blessing."
A winner of both the 2021 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and this year's Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by 1/ST BET (G1), Life Is Good's brilliance has underscored why Teo Ah Khing and the China Horse Club became involved in American racing.
"Since we have been involved in American racing with WinStar, the journey has been very exciting," said Khing, whose group owned a share of Triple Crown champion Justify . "It actually encourages overseas people who watch American racing to become involved in it through horses like Justify, and now Life Is Good."
While plans for Life Is Good's next start are still to be determined, his whereabouts on Nov. 5 became firm as the Whitney victory awarded Life Is Good a free spot in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The year-end showdown, which could be a battleground for both Life is Good and Flightline, will offer Life Is Good a second crack at a 1 1/4-mile distance after he finished fourth in his first try March 26 in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1).
The Dubai World Cup was the lone loss for Life Is Good in his last six starts.
"When you feel like you're bringing over the best horse, you worry about everything. Today we got the rain, the deep track, the heat, and humidity. All those things can be concerning, but he was able to overcome all of that and just show how brilliant he really is," said Pletcher, a four-time Whitney winner. "To me (this rcae) is the premier older horse race in the country outside of the Breeders' Cup Classic. So, it means a lot."
The Whitney unfolded much like the Pegasus World Cup as jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. used Life Is Good's sharp early speed to break from the gate quickly with the 4-5 favorite and open a clear lead by the time the field reached the first turn in the 1 1/8-mile test.
After a half-mile in :46.84 over a good, sealed surface, Life Is Good led by 3 1/2 lengths over third-choice Hot Rod Charlie, and the chances of catching him were beginning to slip away. He was still ahead by two lengths after six furlongs in a quick 1:10.93, and while Happy Saver and Hot Rod Charlie took runs at him in early stretch, Ortiz had more than enough horse underneath him to hold them off, angling his 4-year-old mount to the inside toward Happy Saver in midstretch.
"I was clear," Ortiz said. "I looked and came down a little bit. I know if he felt somebody that he would give me another run and more. I know he's coming back a little, the track is not that fast, so if he feels somebody, he will fight. I know he will fight, so that is why I was looking."
Life Is Good was timed in 1:48.97, paying $3.70 to win.
Wertheimer Et Frere's Happy Saver, a son of Super Saver also trained by Pletcher, took second by a head over Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss' Hot Rod Charlie. A son of Oxbow , Hot Road Charlie pushed his earnings to $5,251,200 with his third-place finish.
Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, and LNJ Foxwoods' Olympiad tracked in third and never fired as the 9-5 second choice. The loss snapped his five-race winning streak for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
"He was moving well, then leaving the 5/8ths pole (jockey Junior Alvarado) said he wasn't giving him what he gave him in the past," Mott said.
Life Is Good is the second of five foals from the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk and her lone stakes winner. She also has a 2-year-old filly by Blame named Living Good, a yearling colt by Candy Ride , and a 2022 full brother to Life Is Good.
Life Is Good, who started his career with trainer Bob Baffert, was bought for $525,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
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