Imperial Hint, X Y Jet may converge in Gulfstream's Mr. Prospector

Raymond Mamone’s Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint and fellow multi-millionaire X Y Jet are prominent among 21 horses nominated to the $100,000 Mr. Prospector set for Saturday, Dec. 21, at Gulfstream Park.

The 65th running of the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector for 3-year-olds and up will be the first race for Imperial Hint since the 6-year-old captured the six-furlong Vosburgh (G1) by a nose Sept. 28 at Belmont Park.

Imperial Hint is 14-for-23 lifetime with a $2,199,155 bankroll and four career Grade 1 wins, taking the Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga and Vosburgh in back-to-back starts in 2018 and 2019. Overall he owns seven graded-stakes victories, his first coming in the 2017 General George (G3) at Laurel Park. In his lone race at Gulfstream, he won the six-furlong Smile Sprint (G2) in 2017.

Rockingham Ranch and Gelfenstein Farm’s X Y Jet owns 12 wins from 25 lifetime starts with $3,095,513 in purse earnings, not having raced since beating Imperial Hint and eight others in the $2.5 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) March 30.

Working regularly at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, X Y Jet has been third or better in 12 of 14 career races over Gulfstream’s main track, seven of them wins, including the 2018 Smile Sprint (G3).

Also among Mr. Prospector nominees are Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) runner-up and Amsterdam (G2) winner Shancelot and Grade 1-placed Jalen Journey, like X Y Jet trained by Jorge Navarro; 2019 Smile Sprint winner Diamond Oops; Art G Is Back, a multiple stakes winner at Gulfstream this summer; He Hate Me, third in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Sept. 21 at Laurel; 2018 H. Allen Jerkens (G1) runner-up Seven Trumpets; and 2018 Wood Memorial (G3) show finisher Restoring Hope.