Miles Ahead brings class to the table in Thanksgiving Classic

Miles Ahead has struggled to get in front. A nose victory in September 2022 is all that stands between the 6-year-old and a 10-race losing streak, but Miles Ahead figures to be favored Thursday at Fair Grounds in the $200,000 Thanksgiving Classic.

“He runs well every time, runs hard, but he hasn’t quite gotten the job done,” said Paul McGee, who trains Miles Ahead for the Jay Em Ess Stable.

Miles Ahead is in the third iteration of his career. Based in Florida for his first 21 starts while trained, with one exception, by part-owner Eddie Plesa Jr., Miles Ahead was privately purchased early in 2022 and raced once in California with trainer Brian Koriner. McGee began training the gelding during the spring of that year and Miles Ahead has admirably held his form since that time.

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His only subpar race – and it was far from disastrous – came in his lone previous Fair Grounds start, a fifth-place finish in the Richie Scherer Memorial last December. That race came following a three-month layoff. Now, Miles Ahead runs on less than three weeks’ rest having finished second Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine, his first race since July.

“He’s coming back quick but he had a decent layoff going into the last race. There’s really not a whole lot of sprint stakes this time of year, and I felt like this race made sense,” said McGee.

Miles Ahead and New Orleans native Joe Talamo break from the outside stall in a field of nine and ought to race from the second flight.

“He’s got stalking speed and I like the outside post,” McGee said.

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It’s no secret who will lead the six-furlong Thanksgiving Classic. Super Ocho brings a 135 TimeformUS early pace rating to the contest, a number that’s off the charts. Super Ocho, who was bred in Chile and began his career there, has been, to say the least, ambitiously spotted. He did finish a creditable fifth in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but things went less well this past March, when Super Ocho was 11th in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Trained by Amador Sanchez, Super Ocho didn’t start following the Dubai trip until Oct. 26, when he routed open allowance foes at Delta Downs. That was a five-furlong race, and Super Ocho has a 5-0-0-1 record going six furlongs.

Six furlongs is too short for Minnesota Ready, but he’ll be running late and can pick off speedier foes tiring after chasing Super Ocho. Chasing Time also wants to go at least a half-furlong farther but has a considerably better race in him than the one he produced in his last start, a Keeneland allowance on Oct. 28.

First post for the 10-race program comes early, at noon Central, with the feature, race 9, scheduled for 4:06.

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