X Y Jet Overwhelms Rivals in Sunshine Millions Sprint
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Four weeks after flirting with a track record while winning the Mr. Prospector (G3), Gelfenstein Farm’s X Y Jet returned to Gulfstream Park Saturday and did it again, overpowering seven fellow Florida-breds to take the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint.
The speedy gray or roan son of Kantharos turned in a command performance in his 4-year-old debut, outrunning multiple graded stakes winner Wildcat Red by 4 ¼ lengths to post his fourth consecutive victory and second straight stakes.
Favored at 3-5, X Y Jet ($3.20) ran six furlongs on a fast main track in 1:08.58, just .46 off the track record set by champion sprinter Big Drama in 2011. Wildcat Red was a clear second in his first start in nearly four months, finishing 3 ½ lengths ahead of C. Zee.
Puntrooskie, Ackeret, Alfredo Romana, El Botas and It’s Not Me completed the order of finish.
“Wow. Just wow,” Navarro said. “He broke kind of slow, which made me a little nervous, but he was coming from the eight hole so he didn’t have enough time to be right there. He’s just a super horse. He’s a fast, fast horse.”
Wildcat Red broke running from post three and went straight for the lead with El Botas to his inside. Jockey Emisael Jaramillo hustled X Y Jet three wide and quickly closed the gap to pass the leaders effortlessly and take the field through blazing fractions of 21.76 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 43.96 for the half and 55.79 for five furlongs.
Jaramillo was a passenger as X Y Jet continued took flight down the stretch and cruised to the wire under a hand ride. It was a near carbon copy of his 9 ¼-length triumph in the Mr. Prospector, where he hit the wire in 1:08.56 under 114 pounds, nine fewer than he carried in the Sprint.
“That was a big race last time out, so I was concerned. I was worried. People were telling me, ‘You have it,’ but nothing is easy, guys. Come on. That was a big, big performance,” Navarro said. “He’s doing good right now.”
Jaramillo has been aboard for each of X Y Jet’s last three victories, each at six furlongs, where he is now four-for-five lifetime. He is unbeaten since returning from a 6 ½-month break between races following his sixth-place finish in the Swale (G2) last March.
“The horse is staying healthy, improving every day,” Jaramillo said. “Even though he carried 123 pounds today, the fractions were better than last time.”
Jose Garoffalo, who trained Wildcat Red to wins in the Hutcheson (G3) and Fountain of Youth (G2) and a second in the Florida Derby (G1) in 2014, was impressed with both his horse and the winner.
“Red ran a hell of a race. He did his job. The race went as expected. For the first time off a layoff it was a great race for him. We’re very happy,” he said. “That horse is too fast. That’s a super horse. He went in 43 and 55 (seconds); that’s not easy to follow. For the first time off the layoff, it was a great race for him. We’re very happy.”
Source: Gulfstream Park
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