X Y Jet, Imperial Hint fine after grueling efforts in Mr. Prospector

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro reports X Y Jet came out of Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector tired but in good order and will remain on a path that will hopefully get him back to Dubai to defend his title in the Golden Shaheen later this spring.

X Y Jet set a lively pace before easing to the wire more than 20 lengths behind the winner, Diamond Oops, in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector while making his first start since winning the 2019 Golden Shaheen nine months earlier.

“Twenty-one, 43, 1:08, that’s it,” was Navarro’s initial reaction when asked how X Y Jet was doing the day after the race. “I was upset going that fast, but he cooled out well and today he’s perfect. We always X-ray after every race, and everything’s good. That’s what we needed for him. Right now, the plan is still to bring him back in the Sunshine Millions.”

The six-furlong Sunshine Millions Sprint will be run here Jan. 18.

Trainer Luis Carvajal reported Monday that all also is well with Imperial Hint following his disappointing third-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Mr. Prospector. Imperial Hint was making his first start since posting Grade 1 victories in the Alfred Vanderbilt at Saratoga and Vosburgh at Belmont Park earlier this year. Imperial Hint finished third behind X Y Jet in the 2019 Golden Shaheen.

“It was a little too far, that was it,” Carvajal said of the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector. “You could see he was struggling a bit at the end. His best distance is six furlongs. But this should set him up good, hopefully, for Saudi.”

Carvajal was referring to the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint on Feb. 29.