Jerkens hopes Mihos can turn his luck in Mucho Macho Man

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With a little better racing luck at Gulfstream Park over the past weekend, trainer Jimmy Jerkens might have had a lot to celebrate on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, the racing gods were not on his side, as Holy Helena finished a troubled second in Saturday’s Via Borghese Stakes, and Illudere was third as the even-money favorite after an eventful trip in Sunday’s allowance feature.

Perhaps the new year will start on a luckier note for Jerkens when he sends out the lightly raced but promising Mihos in Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes. Mihos, a son of Cairo Prince owned by Centennial Farm, finished third in his debut before coming back to win his maiden nine weeks later. Both starts came at six furlongs; the second saw the addition of Lasix.

“It’s a jump going right into a stakes like this, but he acts to me like he can do it,” Jerkens said. “He really has a good head on him. Everything we’ve thrown at him, it seems like he’s taken it without batting an eyelash, so I’m pretty confident he can take the step. You’ve got to start making demands on them sooner or later if you’re going to get on the Derby trail, and I think he can ultimately be a two-turn horse. He’s got a nice, long frame on him and, like I said, a beautiful temperament, which at this stage is half the battle.”

Jerkens explained why he added Lasix in Mihos’s second start.

“He’s always had kind of a heavy-sounding breathing to him, so I thought the Lasix might lower the blood pressure a little bit,” Jerkens said. “It never seems to bother or deter him, but it’s always a concern when they breathe thick like that. But I don’t think the Lasix was necessarily the reason he improved in his second start. He was in a key race the first time. Both horses that finished in front of him came back and ran huge after that, so I was confident he’d come back and make a good leap like he did.”

As for Holy Helena’s tough loss under Tyler Gaffalione in the Via Borghese, Jerkens blamed it partly on the lack of pace in the race as well as just plain racing luck in a large field on the grass.

“It’s so hard to know what to do sometimes when there is so little pace in these races,” Jerkens said. “It didn’t look like there was any speed, but I wasn’t crazy about being on the lead, either, so I kind of discouraged [Gaffalione] from doing that in the paddock before the race. Then she got bottled up inside on the turn. It cost her a length or two, and it made the difference. I’m just happy she ran her race and it looks like she’s back on the right track again.”

Holy Helena, a Stronach Stables homebred by Ghostzapper, won the Queen’s Plate at 3 in 2017 and two graded turf stakes in 2018.

“There was some talk of breeding her this season, but she’s only had 14 starts and if this race was any indication, she should have another productive campaign if she does stick around for another year,” Jerkens said.

Tiz Mischief continues comeback

Tiz Mischief, who finished a distant third in the Grade 2 Holy Bull when last seen locally in February, will seek his second straight victory on the comeback trail in Thursday’s $52,000 optional-claiming feature at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Tiz Mischief went into the Holy Bull, his 3-year-old debut, off a sharp second-place effort in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs in his 2-year-old finale. But he was never able to quite regain that form during the opening half of his 3-year-old season, going to the sidelines for a break following a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs in mid-June.

Trainer Dale Romans finally brought Tiz Mischief back to the races on Nov. 3 at Churchill and his patience was rewarded with an entry-level allowance victory. In Thursday’s headliner, the stretch-running son of Into Mischief will take on seven rivals, led by the up-and-coming Brasstown, who is seeking his third consecutive win.