“Biscuits” too hot to handle in Lukas Classic

By Sarah Mace

Mind Your Biscuits, the richest horse in the history of the New York breeding program, padded his bankroll yet again on Saturday night when he put away all challengers to score a dominating victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. His Lukas victory on this year’s final nighttime card at Churchill Downs was worth $120,280, which increased 5-year-old Mind Your Biscuit’s career earnings to $4,279,566 (83rd all-time) from a record of 24-8-10-3.

Never out of the exacta in four prior starts in 2018, Mind Your Biscuits, by former New York sire Posse, has contested three Grade 1s in 2018. At Meydan Racecourse on March 31 he closed like a bolt out of the blue to score an all-but-impossible head-victory in course record time for a repeat win in the Dubai Golden Shaheen. Freshened until June 9, he missed by just a nose to Bee Jersey in the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont. On August 4 at Saratoga, in one of the more memorable renewals of the Whitney Handicap – complete with a downpour, rain delay and sloppy track – Mind Your Biscuits completed an historic New York-bred exacta 3 1/2 lengths behind Diversify. The Whitney was “Biscuit’s” first try at the 1 1/8-mile distance and around two turns.

In the lead-up to the Lukas Classic Mind Your Biscuits posted three works, including a five-furlong bullet move at Saratoga on August 31 and an easy five furlongs at Churchill Downs on September 21, after shipping in on September 13. Commenting on his charge’s most recent work, trainer Chad Summers said, “When he breezed the other day and worked in 1:02, he broke off in :13 4/5 and got the last three-eighths in :36 flat, and that’s what you need to see. We know how fast he is. Now it’s a matter of getting him to stay.”

Drawn in post six of eight and paired for the first time with Florida-based Tyler Gaffalione, Mind Your Biscuits went off as the 6-5 favorite in the Lukas Classic. Regular rider Joel Rosario was booked to ride Accelerate in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again at Santa Anita. Accelerate won the race recovering from a slow start after he acted up in the gate.

Away well with the vanguard, Mind Your Biscuits settled in the two-path behind pacesetter Flowers for Lisa, but had company on either side: Honorable Duty to his inside and Breaking Lucky outside.

Vying between horses most of the way along the backstretch, Mind Your Biscuits shook off his immediate neighbors in the approach to the far turn, advancing to a clear second, and set his sights on Flowers for Lisa.

Even with the leader in the turn, “Biscuits” came off the bend with a narrow lead at the quarter pole. After that it was “all she wrote.”

Drawing off under a hand ride from Gaffalione, he steadily put more daylight between himself and the competition, eventually crossing the wire 4 3/4 lengths to the good. Following a half-mile in 48.09 and a mile in 1:36.19, Mind Your Biscuits stopped the clock after nine furlongs at 1:48.64.

“This horse is so classy,” said Gaffalione. “I’m thankful for Chad for letting me ride. This horse was very impressive tonight and going into the Breeders’ Cup in great shape. We sat a perfect trip and when I asked him to run he responded right away and finished well.”

Summers had already confessed to suffering sleepless nights in the lead-up to the Lukas Classic about coming in such a heavy favorite — tabbed at even money on the morning line.

“I can breathe a little bit now,” Summers said after the race. “This horse is so special to us and he proved tonight he can go the longer distance. We’ll get with all of the owners and see which race we’ll run in for the Breeders’ Cup. He’ll stay here at Churchill Downs and train up to the race.”

Third in the last two runnings of the six-furlong TwinSpires.com Breeders’ Cup Sprint (six furlongs), “Biscuits” is also under consideration for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (10 furlongs) and $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Mind Your Biscuits was bred by Jumping Jack Racing LLC and foaled at Sue and Gary Lundy’s Cedar Ridge Farm in Pine Plains. He is one of four winners from four foals to start out of the late Jazzmane, an unraced Kentucky-bred daughter of Toccet and a half-sister to Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Kimchi (Langfuhr).

Mind Your Biscuits was first purchased as a short yearling by Machmer Hall at the 2014 Keeneland January sale for $47,000. When he RNA’d for $47,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale, Summers and Susan Montanye purchased the colt privately as a pinhooking prospect.

A buyback once again at the OBS Spring 2-year-old sale for $47,000, Summers bought out the colt and, over time, lined up J Stables LLC, Head of Plains Partners and Michael E. Kisber to complete Mind Your Biscuits’ first ownership group. Shadai Farm bought into Mind Your Biscuits in May and he is slated join the Teruya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm stallion roster in Abira on the island of Hokkaido in Japan at the conclusion of his racing career. The full ownership roster of Mind Your Biscuits is: Shadai Farm, J Stables LLC, Head of Plains Partners LLC, M. Scott Summers, Daniel Summers, Chad Summers and Michael Kisber.

 

 

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2018/09/30/biscuits-lukas-classic/

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