No Nay Mets goes straight to front, never looks back in Tyro Stakes
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A day after the George Weaver-trained Amidst Waves was a sharp winner of the Colleen Stakes, a 2-year-old filly turf sprint at Monmouth Park, the Weaver-trained No Nay Mets looked even better capturing the $112,000 Tyro Stakes, a 2-year-old turf sprint, by 5 1/2 lengths.
Going straight to the front under Paco Lopez, No Nay Mets never came close to being challenged, drawing impressively away from second choice Ship Cadet to cruise home as the odds-on favorite. No Nay Mets ($3.80) was up by one length after a quarter-mile in 22.49 and turned in what easily was the fastest final furlong, 11.76, in a 12-horse field. That's strong stuff, and No Nay Mets already had turned heads winning a six-figure Gulfstream Park turf-sprint stakes while making his career debut.
“We’re going to try and put him on a path to get to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Weaver, who, remarkably, already has won eight turf-sprint races for 2-year-olds in 2023.
No Nay Mets already has been to England, finishing ninth in the Grade 2 Norfolk there after racing from just off the pace. Sunday, he returned to tactics deployed in the debut victory, using his speed to get to the front, his finishing flourish to get home easily.
“The plan was just to go and to see if they could catch me,” Lopez said. “This horse has a lot of potential. I can see this horse winning a graded-stakes race soon.”
No Nay Mets obviously is a very fast sprinter and his sire, No Nay Never, is a sprinter-mile influence. He’s the first foal to race out of the War Front mare Etoile, who never raced again after finishing a fading 10th in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for trainer Aidan O’Brien. Etoile is out of a mare by Sadler’s Wells, and there’s enough stamina in the pedigree to at least imagine No Nay Mets getting a short-stretch American mile.
Bred by Coolmore, No Nay Mets is owned by Bregman Family Racing and WBED LLC. He was timed in 57.91 for five furlongs over a “good” course. Ship Cadet had two lengths on third-place Shea D World.
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