Mind Your Biscuits ready to deliver top performance in Met Mile

Though Justify will deservedly take top billing next Saturday, it's possible the main attraction on a loaded Belmont Stakes Day undercard could be the New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap. The 5-year-old son of Posse is fresh off a second dazzling victory in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, and could be in the best form of his life, according to his trainer Chad Summers.

"I think this year he's bigger, faster, and stronger, as you're supposed to be [at 5]," said Summers. "A horse's 5-year-old year is supposed to be the best year of a horse's life; that's when they're at their peak. Everything he shows us is that he's at his peak."

After beginning his career in the New York-bred ranks, Mind Your Biscuits has made a steady ascent to the top of the sprint division. He began to blossom late in his sophomore campaign, finishing a fast-closing third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint before winning the Grade 1 Malibu, and continued his upward trajectory last year, including a three-length tour de force in the Golden Shaheen that stamped him as a world class runner.

Though he disappointed in the latter half of 2017 and finished second in his 2018 bow as the odds-on favorite, Summers confidence never wavered. The chestnut horse was shipped halfway around the world to Dubai for the second straight year, and he rewarded his trainer's confidence with a breathtaking performance. On a day when speed and the rail made for an unbeatable combination at Meydan, Mind Your Biscuits was wide throughout and came from the clouds to best a star-studded field.

"We were planning on going back all year," said Summers. "I watched the races [at Meydan] over the winter and all speed horses were winning. You trust in your horse and you trust in your team and [jockey] Joel [Rosario] knows the horse very well. We were hopeful, but to say that we weren't nervous running against horses of the caliber of X Y Jet and Roy H would be a lie. I'll be honest, I didn't think we were going to win 200 meters out, 100 meters out, 50 meters out. I thought maybe we had a shot at getting second, but he just has this will and this desire to win."

If Mind Your Biscuits does prevail on Saturday, just two months and change since his Golden Shaheen triumph, it will be no easy feat. The struggles of getting a horse to ship back to the U.S. from Dubai and put forth an 'A' effort first out are well documented, but Summers, by his own account, has benefited tremendously from being in this same position last year.

"Last year [Mind Your Biscuits] came back and he lost about 100 pounds," said the trainer. "We changed things up this year. We were able to stay an extra week in Dubai, and when he came back to the farm at Fair Hill, he had lost maybe 10 pounds, so it was completely different. We had no chance to make the Met Mile last year. This year this has been the plan since November. Everyone's going to be coming here for Justify, but we plan on putting on a show."