Itsmyluckyday seeks to complete a three-year-old stakes hat trick at Gulfstream in the Florida Derby (Leslie Martin/Adam Coglianese Photography)

The Kentucky Derby hopes of Grade 3 Holy Bull winner Itsmyluckyday and Eclipse Award-winning Shanghai Bobby, among others, lie in their respective performances in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.

With so much at stake in Gulfstream Park's marquee event, Itsmyluckyday's trainer is hoping that the 10 entrants in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby prep have the opportunity to offer their best efforts to decide who continues on to Churchill Downs.

"I don't want any extenuating circumstances to come in the way of everybody's best race. I just want everybody to have a fair shot," said Eddie Plesa Jr., who is scheduled to saddle Itsmyluckyday for an attempt at a third-straight stakes victory at the current Gulfstream meeting. "I've got a lot of confidence in my horse, as I'm sure as everybody else does, and I don't want anything to come in the way of it."

Despite his high ranking among the 2013 crop of three-year-olds, Itsmyluckyday will likely need a first- or second-place finish in the Florida Derby to secure a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field. The Todd Pletcher-trained Shanghai Bobby, a multiple Grade 1 winner at two, will likely need to finish no worse than third to qualify for the Derby under Churchill Downs' new points system, which has assigned 180 points to the Florida Derby with 100 for first, 50 for second, 20 for third and 10 for fourth.

Itsmyluckyday and Shanghai Bobby (inside) could find themselves doing battle once again (Eleanor Gustafson/Adam Coglianese Photography)

"I've got a horse that could not be feeling any better. He's just tearing down the barn. He's a very, very happy horse. He's been away from the races for a little while and hasn't missed a day of training, hasn't missed a work," Plesa said. "How do I feel? If I'd have known it would have gone this smooth, I would have been so happy."

Although Shanghai Bobby suffered his first career loss in the Holy Bull, his connections don't necessarily see his two-length defeat to Itsmyluckyday as a negative.

"I think from a numbers standpoint the Holy Bull was his best race. I think we got sort of the worst of the track and the pace scenario and got stuck in the one hole," Starlight Racing's Jack Wolf remarked.

"Having said that, I give credit to the horse that beat us, Itsmyluckyday. He certainly has shown in his last two races that he's the horse to beat as far as I'm concerned. We were pleased with how Shanghai Bobby ran and how he's been training.

"There's not much we can do at this point, the trainer's got the horse ready and the horse is going to do his own speaking," added Wolf, whose stable sold a significant interest in the 2012 juvenile champion to Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. "It's exciting for me and our partners to compete at these levels, so hopefully he shows up and has a good race. The main thing is to get here and hopefully be lucky enough to have a good trip and win the race."