Mind Your Biscuits works way into Forego; Curlin's Approval coming north for Ballerina

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Following a lackluster work over the main track here one week prior, trainer Chad Summers needed to see more from Mind Your Biscuits before confirming him as a starter in next Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego. And that’s exactly what he got over the Oklahoma training track shortly after dawn Friday.

With regular rider Joel Rosario aboard, Mind Your Biscuits worked four furlongs in driving rain in 49.70 seconds, completing his final quarter in 24.20 before galloping out in 1:02.80 and pulling up three-quarters in 1:15.60, according to Daily Racing Form.

“It was perfect,” Summers said. “He grabbed the bit and did it all on his own. He didn’t do that last week. The time was fine, but it was how he did it that was most important. It was typical Biscuits. It’s the kind of work we’re used to from him, and one we needed to see today.”

Summers said mental, not physical, issues have been plaguing his star since he first arrived at Saratoga shortly after his convincing victory in the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship five weeks earlier.

“We moved him to another barn, one over on the main track, instead of where he had been across the road out towards the harness track, and it’s seemed to have made the difference,” Summers said. “After what he showed us this morning, we’re now a go for the Forego. We’ll have to see how the week goes. But if today were entry day, he’d be in there.”

A field of seven or eight is expected for the Forego, with reigning sprint champion Drefong topping a group that also should include Awesome Slew, Bird Song, Tom’s Ready, Tommy Macho, and perhaps Stallwalkin’ Dude.

The Grade 1 Ballerina, the filly counterpart to the seven-furlong Forego, also is next Saturday, and owner and breeder Happy Alter is readying his homebred Curlin’s Approval for the trip north from her home base at Gulfstream Park. Curlin’s Approval is coming off the best performance of her career, a 4 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney for which she earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

“It’s going to be a tough race, especially going up against a filly like Paulassilverlining, who has already won a couple of Grade 1’s, but I don’t think anyone in that field has run seven furlongs as fast as ours did, in 1:21 and 3, or ran a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure like she did in her last start,” Alter said.

Curlin’s Approval, owned by Alter in partnership with Bridlewood Farm, had her final major tune-up for the Ballerina on Aug. 11 at Gulfstream, sizzling four furlongs in 46.60.

“She’s working just as well coming out of the Rooney as she had been going into the race,” Alter said. “I’ll blow her out over the weekend and then put her on the plane to head up there next Tuesday. The one thing I noticed is that there’s a lot of speed in this field, but that’s fine for us because she can be tactical if she needs to.”