Mind Your Biscuits getting serious for Belmont Sprint Championship

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Mor Spirit turned in one of the more impressive performances of Belmont Stakes weekend in winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap by 6 1/4 lengths, that didn’t make trainer Chad Summers feel any better about skipping the race with Mind Your Biscuits.

“It made me want to run even more,” Summers said, noting that Mind Your Biscuits finished ahead of Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Malibu last December. “We have so much faith and confidence in our horse and what he’s able to do.”

After Mind Your Biscuits won the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on March 25, Summers briefly considered running him in the Met Mile. Instead, he freshened the horse for the summer and fall. The first goal of that campaign is the Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship on July 8 at Belmont Park.

:: Add a 5-card pack of PPs and save 55¢/card!

On Sunday, Mind Your Biscuits had his most serious training session since Dubai when he worked four furlongs in 47.20 seconds over the Belmont main track. Summers put a couple of 2-year-olds several lengths in front of Mind Your Biscuits, and he inhaled them in the stretch under jockey Joel Rosario.

Summers had Mind Your Biscuits shading 23 seconds for his final quarter and had him galloping out five furlongs in 59.20.

“Joel breezed him for us before he went to Canada, and he said he feels even better now than he did going into Dubai,” Summers said. “That’s good enough for me.”

Summers said he would skip working Mind Your Biscuits this week, then give him a pair of five-furlong breezes leading up to the Belmont Sprint Championship, where he likely will face Unified and A. P. Indian, who won this race last year.