Mind Your Biscuits Goes the Distance in Lukas Classic
Posted by ecolombo on February 17th, 2019
Courtesy of www.bloodhorse.com
September 29th, 2018
or months, Chad Summers has been peddling a very specific narrative.
Even since returning from their latest successful venture to Dubai, the trainer and co-owner of Mind Your Biscuits has been telling all those who inquire why he believed the kick that made his charge a multiple grade 1-winning sprinter could be just as effective around two turns. He gathered some evidence in his defense—including a runner-up effort against top-level company—but in order to move forward with the biggest leap of faith, he needed the son of Posse to provide him with some indisputable proof.
Summers got the answer he was looking for Sept. 29, as Mind Your Biscuits stalked and pounced his way to a 4 3/4-length victory in the $200,000 Lukas Classic (G3) going 1 1/8-miles at Churchill Downs. Now that the trainer can tangibly point to his stable star’s versatility, the bigger question of which Breeders’ Cup race he will use to test that talent now looms.
“This tells us we’re going to have a lot of decisions to make in a couple of weeks,” Summers said.
Whether Mind Your Biscuits heads to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Dirt Mile (G1), or TwinSpires Sprint (G1) is still to be determined, but his handy win Saturday night officially kept all options on the table. After racing a bit keen early under jockey Tyler Gaffalione, the 5-year-old advanced outside of pacesetter Flowers for Lisa around the far turn and finished up with good energy in the lane to best the comebacking Toast of New York and six other challengers for his first two-turn triumph.
With the handicap division in a wide-open state this season, Summers decided the time was now to see just how far he could stretch the horse who won the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1) in back-to-back years. After just he just missed by a nose to Bee Jersey in the June 9 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1), Mind Your Biscuits finished second to Diversifyin the Aug. 4 Whitney Stakes (G1), a race that saw the winner have things all his own way on the front end over a sealed, sloppy Saratoga Race Coursemain track.
Sent off as the 6-5 favorite in the Lukas Classic, Mind Your Biscuits handled the competition in the exact manner his class suggested he should, as long as his stamina held up. After racing between horses in third, as Flowers for Lisa posted fractions of :23.73 and :48.09 through a half-mile, Mind Your Biscuits moved up to second with about a half-mile remaining and overtook Flowers for Lisa coming into the head of the lane.
“He showed us what he had to show us,” Summers said. “He showed us that the Whitney wasn’t a fluke over a sealed track, that it wasn’t a suck-up second. The one thing I wanted was to make sure he finished up and galloped out well, and Tyler stayed after him and made sure of that.”
Mind Your Biscuits opened up three lengths on his nearest foes as he settled in for the stretch run, and covered the distance in 1:48.64 over a track rated fast.
“All credit to Chad and his team. They had him ready for tonight. I just had to hang on,” Gaffalione said. “He got a little keen on the backside, but then he settled down, and when I asked him for run, he just kicked on. He’s a really good horse, and he just keeps going. He does whatever you ask of him.”
Owned in partnership by Summers, along with Shadai Farm, J Stables, Head of Plains Partners, Scott Summers, Daniel Summers, and Michael Kisber, Mind Your Biscuits improved his record to eight wins from 24 starts and further bolstered his standing as the richest New York-bred in history with $4,279,566 in earnings.
Toast of New York, who returned to racing in December after three-year hiatus, put in a game effort to get second in his first outing since he finished last in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 27. Honorable Duty, last year’s winner of the Lukas Classic, finished third.
Mind Your Biscuits was bred by Jumping Jack Racing and is out of the Toccetmare Jazzmane. He is slated to enter stud at Shadai for 2019.
Click here for full article: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/229846/mind-your-biscuits-goes-the-distance-in-lukas-classic
Filed under General News