Saratoga Spotlight: Mind Your Biscuits sits on 'career-best'
One of the most intriguing story lines of the 2018 Saratoga meeting is that of trainer Chad Summers preparing Mind Your Biscuits to race around two turns in the Aug. 4 Whitney Stakes (G1).
Now 5 years old, "Biscuits," as he is known around the barn, has a career record of 22: 7-9-3 with earnings of $3,939,286, which makes him the leading New York-bred in history. His resume includes two big victories in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1).
But up to this point, his career has been as a sprinter racing exclusively around one-turn.
After Mind Your Biscuits' game second-place in the Met Mile (G1), Summers made his surprising announcement that the Whitney would be the next race for the star of his 11-horse Saratoga stable.
Summers sees the Whitney as a great opportunity, saying, “The older division is wide open. I have a lot of respect for the horses that are there, but it is what it is right now.”
Mind Your Biscuits has matured, and that helped the trainer make his decision. Accordingly, the son of posse posted the longest workout of his career Friday morning, breezing seven furlongs in 1:26.41 and he galloped out nine-furlongs in 1:53 and change.
“As he’s gotten older, he’s gotten kinder," Summers said. "He’s easier to train a little bit. He can still be a little bit cantankerous, but for the most part he behaves himself a little bit better. That allows us to have an on/off switch, which allows him to kind of gallop slower and longer which is what you need to go two turns.”
The late running style of Mind Your Biscuits in sprints has always left him as a horse that needs a contentious fast pace to set up his strong stretch run. When there are quick early fractions, he is tough hard to beat.
“When you go in the Whitney as a two turn race it is not as pace dependent,” explained Summers. “In fact, we might be in front. It’s a little bit of a different philosophy than having to be so pace dependent on what’s in front of you and hope that somebody goes with him.”
Over the years, Biscuits has become a very popular horse with racing fans. For me, victories by deep closers in sprint races are always very compelling.
“He’s really popular. I think the name certainly helps,” added the trainer. “Winning races internationally, so you have an international following, and he’s a blue-collar New York-bred. He was bought right here in Saratoga. We’re here in Saratoga and we’re right here on Funny Cide Avenue. We wave that flag proudly. He’s not a very expensive horse [$47,000 at the 2014 Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale] and he’s an overachiever. It’s certainly that kind of underdog story.”
Summers made it clear that he has the utmost confidence in Mind Your Biscuits, as "he is showing all of us the signs that he is sitting on a career-best race. To me, on his career-best race, everybody else is running for second. We’ll go into the Whitney and we’ll probably be the third or fourth choice and that’s fine with us. If the respect isn’t there now, it will be on August 4 at midnight.”