South Florida Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. Retires After Florida Derby, Cites Industry Changes

Timeless Victory will be the final starter for Eddie Plesa Jr. after the trainer, a presence in Florida racing for more than five decades, told Tom Pedulla of the Paulick Report on March 23 that he would retire at week's end. The announcement closes one of the longer chapters in Gulfstream Park's history, ending a training career that traces its roots back to a South Florida childhood defined entirely by horses.

Born April 25, 1949, in Seattle, Plesa is the son of jockey and trainer Edward Plesa Sr. His father was a leading jockey in Detroit and Cleveland before becoming a trainer in the 1960s, then moved to Florida in 1971 when Calder opened to become a private trainer for Fred Hooper. The younger Plesa never had a chance to be anything else. "I'm second-generation in the racing industry — my father was a jockey and later a trainer," he said. "Growing up in the horse business, I worked for him from the time I was five, spending every summer with Thoroughbreds wherever he rode. It was a way of life for me and I never stopped."

As Plesa Sr.'s stable grew, so did the responsibilities handed to his son. Plesa described being dispatched to Tampa to handle his father's lesser horses: "That's how I got my start in training. I worked as an assistant for a considerable period before starting my own business. I got my trainer's license at 19, and that was just the beginning."

Plesa Jr. worked for his father and also apprenticed under Stan Hough and at Harbor View Farm. The grind of the trade eventually pushed him toward administration. "Horse racing is seven days a week, 365 days a year," he said. "Then, I was offered a job in the racing office at Calder. The big question for me, as silly as it sounds now, was: 'Do I get a day off?' They said, 'Yes, you can have a day off.'" Plesa worked in the racing office for about four or five years, then moved up to assistant racing secretary at Calder before eventually leaving for New Jersey, where he served as assistant racing secretary. He later chose a stint in Boston before ultimately coming back to where it all began.

Once back in South Florida and behind a shedrow again, the results came steadily. Plesa ran in Breeders' Cup races, ran in the Kentucky Derby, finished second in the Preakness, and won over 2,500 races. In 2007, he was inducted into the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame. He was the trainer of Three Rings, who won the Davona Dale (G1), Bonnie Miss (G1), and Acorn Stakes (G1). In 2013, Plesa won the Holy Bull (G3) with Itsmyluckyday, who set a new track record in the race and then finished second to Orb in the Florida Derby. As of July 2025, Plesa ranked 64th overall in all-time career earnings for trainers at $64,579,375.

Timeless Victory, owned by Leon Ellman, Glassman Racing, and Laurie Plesa, won an allowance-optional claiming race at the Florida Derby track and 1 1/8-mile distance by six lengths in his most recent start on March 1. The 75th running of the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park offers 200 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby and anchors a 14-race program worth $2.675 million. Timeless Victory enters as a 20-1 long shot against a field that includes Bill Mott's Chief Wallabee and Brad Cox's Commandment, but Plesa never picked his last horse for the odds.

He always said his greatest satisfaction came earlier than the races anyway. "What I enjoy most is buying 2-year-olds," he said. "You go out there, look at these young athletes, and in your mind, you envision how they will grow into something special." After more than five decades of doing exactly that, Plesa steps away from the rail at one of the same tracks where his father first brought horses more than half a century ago.