Mind Your Biscuits tops star-studded field in G1 Runhappy Met Mile

NYRA Release —-

ELMONT, N.Y. – An accomplished group of 11 graded-stakes winners, topped by $3.7 million earner and multiple Grade or Group 1 champion Mind Your Biscuits, will line up in an all-star edition of the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap Saturday at Belmont Park.

The 125th running of the Met Mile for 3-year-olds and up is one of nine graded stakes and second-richest on a 13-race program highlighted by the 150th renewal of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, featuring Justify’s quest to become racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion.

Carded as Race 9 (4:45 p.m. ET), the Met Mile will be part of NBC’s national telecast from 4-7 p.m. that is capped by the 1 ½-mile Belmont, which has a post time of 6:46 p.m. NBC Sports Network will also provide racing coverage from 2-4 p.m. Saturday.

The Met Mile is also a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile November 3 at Churchill Downs, and is the second leg of a $1.5 million guaranteed all-Grade 1 Pick 4 that also includes the $700,000 Longines Just a Game in Race 8 and $1 million Woodford Reserve Manhattan in Race 10, and is anchored by the Belmont.

This year’s Met Mile features a field that collectively has won 26 graded-stakes and $11,952,137 in purse earnings, with three Grade 1 winners and five millionaires, none richer than Mind Your Biscuits, trained by Chad Summers and co-owned by his family, Shadai Farm, Head of Plains Partners and Michael Kisber.

Mind Your Biscuits, the richest New York-bred in history, has finished in the top three in 18 of 21 lifetime starts with seven wins, second-most among Met Mile competitors. He won the Grade 1 Malibu as a 3-year-old in 2016 and has traveled to Dubai for thrilling back-to-back victories in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen in 2017 and 2018.

The 5-year-old son of Posse hasn’t raced since successfully defending his Golden Shaheen title on March 31, but has been training steadily with three works upon returning last month to Belmont, where he won the Grade 2 Belmont Sprint Championship last July in his first start back from Dubai.

“It’s his home track. I think it’s probably his favorite track,” Summers said. “Obviously, Meydan is special to us but this is his home track and the last time he ran here in the Belmont Sprint I think he was pretty impressive. We’re excited.

“If you look at the horses that have won the Met Mile and the history of the Met Mile, it’s a who’s who not only of racehorses, but of stallions,” he added. “Growing up in New York, this was probably my favorite race of all time. If we can win the Met Mile, it would mean the world to me.”

Second and third, respectively, in the past two editions of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Mind Your Biscuits will be trying the mile distance for just the third time. He was fourth in a November 2015 maiden special weight and second to Sharp Azteca in the Cigar Mile last December, both at Aqueduct Racetrack

“We’ve been pointing for the Met Mile really since the Breeders’ Cup last year. This was kind of the big goal that we had in mind. We feel like we have him fit and ready to go,” Summers said. “It’s tough to go from three-quarters to a mile like we did last year in the Cigar Mile. This year, with it being our goal all along, we’ve been able to train him a little differently and we’re confident that we’ll get that mile distance.”

Mind Your Biscuits will carry topweight of 122 pounds from post-position 1 including regular rider Joel Rosario, yielding from four to eight pounds to his rivals, six of which are already proven at one mile.

“A lot of these horses they say are milers. The question for us is, are we a miler? These other horses, there’s no doubt that they’re milers and we’ll be giving them weight,” Summers said. “Everybody seems like they’re coming into this race in good form. Everyone’s going to show up and to win a race like the Met Mile you have to earn it, and that’s what we’re hoping to do.”

Like Mind Your Biscuits, four other horses are stretching out from their last start for the Met Mile – three-time Grade 3 winner Awesome Slew; Ransom the Moon, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby last summer at Del Mar; Limousine Liberal, fresh off a narrow victory in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs; and Warrior’s Club, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who has won the Met Mile three times, most recently with Honour and Glory in 1996.

“His best distance is seven-eighths to a mile. He’s one of those horses that doesn’t get away and throw up a 21[-second quarter-mile], but he keeps coming and coming and coming at you,” Lukas said of Warrior’s Reward, beaten a head by Limousine Liberal in the Churchill Downs on May 5. “The one-turn mile at Belmont might fit him to a ‘T.'”

Awesome Slew finished third in the Churchill Downs, a head behind Warrior’s Reward, beaten the total of a neck. He won the one-mile Grade 3 Ack Ack last fall at Churchill and followed up with a third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a second in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap on April 7 at Aqueduct in his seasonal debut.

Based in California with trainer Phil D’Amato, Ransom the Moon was second as the favorite April 21 in Santa Anita’s Grade 2 Kona Gold, a race he won in 2017. His Bing Crosby victory came over Roy H, who went on to earn the Eclipse Award as last year’s champion sprinter. Regular rider Flavien Prat will be in town for the mount from post 8.

“He’s got tactical speed and Flavien knows him well,” D’Amato said. “It’s a great race and certainly worth taking a swing at.”

Among the horses cutting back in distance for the Met Mile is Mick Ruis-owned and trained Bolt d’Oro, attempting to become the first 3-year-old since Honour and Glory to finish first. A Grade 1 winner of the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner as a juvenile, the bay son of Medaglia d’Oro was most recently 12th in the Kentucky Derby May 5.

Ruis initially considered bringing Bolt d’Oro back in the Grade 1 Preakness two weeks later, but opted for more rest and less distance in his return engagement. Florent Geroux will be aboard for the first time from post position 2 at low weight of 114 pounds.

“I thought the best thing for him was to give him a couple extra weeks and look for this race. This race is speed and stamina,” Ruis said. “We know he has some speed and he’s bred for stamina. We just thought we’d take a shot here. He’s training up to the race really good. We know we’re up against some tough older milers, but I think he’ll put in a good showing for himself.”

Seeking his first Grade 1 victory is Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred McCraken, a three-time graded-stakes winning son of 2005 Met Mile winner and 2012 Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ghostzapper. Beaten a nose in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational last July going 1 1/8 miles, the Ian Wilkes trainee is perfect in two career tries at the distance, capturing the 2016 Street Sense at Churchill Downs as well as an optional claiming allowance May 5 on the Derby undercard, his first start in more than six months.

“The Met Mile is such a prestigious race, it would be nice for this horse’s resume if I can get that accomplished. The horse is doing great. He’s done nothing but go forward since [the last] race, so I’m very happy with him,” Wilkes said. “[He] can run a mile and an eighth, too, but I might just concentrate on a mile The horse has a great turn of foot. That’s the key to it.”

Charles Fipke homebred Bee Jersey brings a three-race win streak, all at eight furlongs, into the Met Mile for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The speedy son of Jersey Town has won four of five starts since arriving in the U.S. last fall, most recently defeating Grade 1 winner Girvin in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile on May 6. He began his career in Dubai and was winless in four starts, finishing well back in the 2017 Group 2 UAE Derby.

“I have all the respect in the world for a guy like Steve Asmussen … and we just don’t want to see Bee Jersey on the lead by himself. If Bee Jersey is on the lead by himself, then everybody else might just be running for second,” Summers said. “You would hope the other riders in the race will ride a tactical race and ride to their horse’s best ability.”

Completing the field are Good Samaritan, who earned his third career Grade 2 victory in the New Orleans Handicap March 24 at Fair Grounds; 2017 Grade 3 Southwest winner One Liner, most recently second in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special May 18; and Discreet Lover, winner of the Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile Excelsior April 7 at Aqueduct who will be making his 40th career start.

Cover Photo: Mind Your Biscuits; Benoit Photo