Mind Your Biscuits A Go for Breeders’ Cup Sprint Following Friday Work

By Laura Pugh

Amsterdam Stakes (GIII) winner Mind Your Biscuits, getting ready for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) at Santa Anita in two weeks, fired a bullet half-mile in :48.66 at Belmont Park on Friday morning with regular jockey Joel Rosario aboard. The work was the fastest of 41 at the distance on the day.

“The work was exactly how we drew it out,” Chad Summers, manager of J Stables, said after the drill. “Joel has been nothing but good with the horse. He’s breezed him more than just about anyone else and he loved the work. It was exactly how we planned it out.

 

“We felt like we had to put a little bit more speed in him to be ready for (Santa Anita), which is why this work may have been a little faster than you’re used to seeing from him. “

Summers caught the colt breaking off in :12.66, getting the quarter in :24.48, hitting three furlongs in :35.73, before stopping the Summers’ watch in :47.03.

Summers said Rosario will reunite with the chestnut colt in the Breeders’ Cup. The rider has piloted the colt four times over his 11-race career, accounting for two of the colt’s three wins and two more second-place finishes.

According to Summers, the son of Posse is heading into the Breeders’ Cup extremely strong.

“The original plan was to stop on him after Gallant Bob,” Summers said, referring to the colt’s most recent start where he finished second to Noholdingback Bear. “He was just going to go chill at the farm. The second day he was out walking he was just kicking down the barn.

“Ever since the Gallant Bob, it’s like he’s been mad that he lost the race. He’s always been a nice, quality horse but since the Gallant Bob he’s become a different horse. He is peaking at the right time.”

Summers is hopeful that that the pace in the Sprint is a little more kind to his colt’s running style than the one they received two races back where Mind Your Biscuits finished fifth in the King’s Bishop Stakes (GI) at Saratoga.

“You are supposed to go fast in those races, but when you go the opening quarter in :23 and change it puts us a little bit of a disadvantage,” Summers explained. “Hopefully, with horses like A.P Indian and Drefong, where all they know to do is go to the lead, we get a better pace and catch a fair track.”

Plans call for Mind Your Biscuits to ship to Santa Anita on Sunday, but whether he will have a work over the surface is still undecided.

“We’ll sort of play it by ear,” Summers said. “We’ll wait to see how he’s doing, how he’s settling in, and then we’ll make that decision as a group.”