Paths diverge for Remington Sprint Championship exacta Mico Margarita, Heitai

Mico Margarita and Heitai made for a dramatic one-two finish in last month’s $150,000 Remington Park Sprint Championship, each earning a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure. Now, the pair is heading down different roads.

Mico Margarita is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. Heitai’s focus moving forward will be turf racing, according to trainer Karl Broberg.

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Mico Margarita earned a 102 Beyer for his three-quarter-length win over Heitai. He caught the pacesetter a few jumps from the wire, covering six furlongs in 1:09.26. It was the second straight stakes win for Mico Margarita, who popped the same Beyer in August when winning the $100,000 Sen. Robert C. Byrd Memorial at six furlongs at Mountaineer.

“Two excellent races in a row,” Asmussen said. “He got back to his Carry Back and Amsterdam races. He’s run those sort of numbers previously.”

Mico Margarita earned a 104 Beyer in April, when he won the $60,000 Oak Hall at Evangeline Downs. The recent efforts are reminiscent of the peak form the horse reached last summer at 3. Mico Margarita was a 4 1/2-length winner of the Grade 3 Carry Back at Calder, then ran a close second in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga. In the latter race, he was prominent through punishing fractions to earn his first triple-digit Beyer, a 100.

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“I think we got to the bottom of him in the Amsterdam,” Asmussen said. “Going 6 1/2 furlongs, he ran as hard as he could. We got to the bottom of him that day, and we gave him a break off that race. It took a while to get back into form.”

Mico Margarita returned to action at the most recent Fair Grounds meet and was third to Gantry in the Thanksgiving Handicap. He then ran fourth in three consecutive starts at Oaklawn before winning by 8 3/4 lengths in the Oak Hall.

“He didn’t run his race at Oaklawn,” Asmussen said of Mico Margarita’s starts in Arkansas. “If you take those races out, his form is really consistent.”

Asmussen said Mico Margarita shipped last week to Santa Anita. The horse races for J. Kirk Robison.

Heitai has put up triple-digit Beyers in four of his eight starts this year, earning his latest after running the opening five furlongs of the Remington Sprint in 55.70 seconds. The start was his first since June, when he captured the $300,000 Evangeline Downs Turf Sprint.

“He came back good,” Broberg said. “Obviously, the dreams of the Breeders’ Cup are out. We don’t have a specific race in mind, but we will be pointing him for turf sprints in the near future. We’re going to choose our spots judiciously, not going to be afraid to travel. The only time he’ll see open company is when it’s five-eighths on the grass.”

Heitai, a multiple stakes winner against Louisiana-breds, had been under consideration for this year’s BC Turf Sprint, but the 6 1/2-furlong distance of the race was one of the reasons to pass, said Broberg. The horse races for Rowell Enterprises and is based at Remington.