Gaffalione, Mind Your Biscuits work five furlongs in Lukas Classic prep

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tyler Gaffalione will ride Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Sept. 29. On Friday, Gaffalione got to test drive the highest money-earning New York-bred in history, guiding him through a five-furlong workout in 1:00.20 over Saratoga’s main track.

Working by himself after the mid-morning renovation break, Mind Your Biscuits got his final quarter in 24.54 seconds and proceeded to gallop out six furlongs in 1:12.70, seven furlongs in 1:25.49 and pulled up a mile in 1:39.42.

“I thought it was super,” trainer Chad Summers said of the move. “I always thought [Gaffalione] would kind of fit the horse, and it showed today. It was the first time he sat on the horse and it looked like the old Biscuits. I thought he was striding out really well, I thought he finished great, I thought he had a great gallop out. Tyler came off beaming from ear to ear and we’re going to go in the Lukas Classic with a lot of confidence.”

Mind Your Biscuits is coming off a second-place finish behind fellow New York-bred Diversify in the Grade 1 Whitney at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 4.

Summers said he hopes Mind Your Biscuits’s performance in the Lukas Classic, at 1 1/8 miles, helps him determine in which Breeders’ Cup race he should run. Summers said he will keep the Classic, at 1 1/4 miles, the Dirt Mile, and the Sprint, at six furlongs, in play. Mind Your Biscuits has crossed the wire third in each of the last two Sprints.

“We’ll look at the three races evenly,” Summers said. “We think he’ll make that decision for us and hopefully make that an easy decision for us.”