Timeless Victory (By My Standards) will be trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.'s final starter in Saturday's GI Florida Derby as the Florida horseman closes up shop after over 40 years at the track, it was announced via press release Friday.
A second generation horseman, and one of the most successful horsemen in Florida racing history, Plesa will call it a career after the Kentucky Derby prep race concludes. His final starter in the Saturday feature will look to send his conditioner off in a big way, and despite being a longshot, is going the right direction to pull the shocker. His 20-1 morning-line outsider is entering the contest off a strong allowance victory on the stretch-out to the 1 1/8-miles.
“He's a longshot in the race,” said Plesa, who enjoys a 28 percent strike rate during the 2025-26 Championship meet. “His last race I thought was an impressive race. He's coming into the [Florida Derby] 110 percent and he's running at a distance he likes.”
Ahead of Saturday's Florida Derby, Plesa currently sits at 2,528 wins. In addition to Timeless Victory, he was also the trainer of [Grade I at the time] Woodward Stakes hero Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron)–who won the 2013 Holy Bull and ran second in the Florida Derby–and several other multiple graded stakes winners.
“I've had a great life in this business. My wife [Laurie Plesa] 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 LLC.
“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.”
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