'Nerve-wracking' wait for Mind Your Biscuits' Lukas Classic run

Rest will not come easy for trainer Chad Summers over the next two days as the 33-year-old conditioner anxiously awaits Saturday night’s Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, where he will lead over top sprinter Mind Your Biscuits as the even-money morning line favorite.

“I won’t be sleeping at all now being that short of a favorite – that’s pretty nerve-wracking,” said Summers as he stood alongside Mind Your Biscuits behind Barn 17 on Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. “I’m so excited for the race to get here, now I just have to figure out if I should wear a suit or, since it’s the Lukas Classic, wear pressed jeans and a cowboy hat like Wayne.”

Mind Your Biscuits, the brilliant Grade 1-winning runner who finished second to Diversify in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Whitney in his first race beyond one mile, will attempt to land his first win around two turns and a possible spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

The 5-year-old son of Posse shipped to Churchill Downs on Sept. 13 to begin his preparation for the Lukas Classic and Breeders’ Cup.

“This has been part of our plan since April,” Summers said. “We’ve settled in nicely to Churchill Downs. He schooled in the paddock (Wednesday) and went to the gate (Thursday). We’re doing just fine and hope we feel even better Saturday night around 10 o’clock.”      

The 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic for 3-year-olds and up, which honors the iconic 83-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, is the centerpiece of an 11-race “Downs After Dark” evening program – the final nighttime card at Churchill Downs this year. Three other stakes events are showcased on the card: top milers in the $100,000 Ack Ack (GIII); 3-year-olds in the $100,000 Jefferson Cup (Listed) at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course; and purebred Arabians in the $100,000 President of the United Arab Emirates Cup (GI) over 1 1/16 miles.

Saturday night’s first race is 6 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Lukas Classic will go as Race 9 at 10:11 p.m.

Mind Your Biscuits made international headlines in March when the 5-year-old son of Posse scored his second consecutive win in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan Racecourse – his fifth graded stakes win and third against Grade 1 company. With the victory, he surpassed 2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide as the richest New York-bred of all-time.

Rising star and Florida-based jockey Tyler Gaffalione will take over the riding duties on Saturday from Joel Rosario, who is booked to ride top Classic contender Accelerate in the $300,000 Awesome Again (G1) at Santa Anita. Gaffalione is expected to stay in Kentucky for Keeneland’s three-week Fall Meet beginning on Oct. 5.

The complete Lukas Classic field from the rail out (with jockeys, assigned weights and morning line odds):Honorable Duty (Corey Lanerie, 121, 5-2); Remembering Rita (Alex Birzer, 123, 15-1); Rated R Superstar(Brian Hernandez Jr., 123, 12-1); Toast of New York (Julien Leparoux, 121, 15-1); Flowers for Lisa (Jose Ferrer, 121, 15-1); Mind Your Biscuits (Gaffalione, 121, 1-1); Term of Art (Shaun Bridgmohan, 121, 10-1); and Breaking Lucky (Ricardo Santana Jr., 121, 6-1).