X Y Jet, Navarro get their victory in Dubai Golden Shaheen

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – X Y Jet got nailed at the wire in the 2016 Dubai Golden Shaheen, and the same thing happened in 2018, when Mind Your Biscuits snatched his win away by a head. But on Saturday night, afforded a clear lead this time, no one was nailing X Y Jet, who made a comfortable lead and made the most of it, fending off the pesky Japanese horse Matera Sky to win by 1 1/2 lengths in a race that unfolded parade style.

Matera Sky had a half-length on Imperial Hint, who got a lousy trip from post 1, and Promises Fulfilled finished fourth. Promises Fulfilled broke flatfooted and never got close to the front, and with the inside-drawn Imperial Hint taking back behind the leader, X Y Jet, breaking as sharply as usual, dashed off to a cozy lead – sweet stuff in a $2.5 million race.

“I was confident when he made the lead like that,” said Jorge Navarro, who trains X Y Jet for Rockingham Ranch and Gelfenstein Farm.

Besides X Y Jet’s painful losses, Navarro had taken an equally tough beat here with Sharp Azteca, who was moved too early to the lead in the 2017 Godolphin Mile and got tagged at the line as the heavy favorite.

“Fourth time’s a charm, I guess,” Navarro said. “The horse wanted to run today. I kept him fresh this week.”

Emisael Jaramillo rode X Y Jet and, for all intents and purposes, won the race by breaking X Y Jet on top. The 7-year-old gelding, of course, had a lot to do with that. Quick out of the gate with Quarter Horse speed, X Y Jet, who has retained his form admirably into middle age, always has been very tough to catch when things go his way, and Matera Sky, who pressed the pace all the way, was not the horse to do it.

Imperial Hint’s connections had hoped Promises Fulfilled would turn up the heat on X Y Jet, and when no one went with him, Imperial Hint was in trouble. Stuck in behind X Y Jet, he wrestled with jockey Jose Ortiz and failed to quicken when taken outside for the stretch run, though he was gaining mildly at the wire. Promises Fulfilled ran on for a respectable fourth.

X Y Jet was timed in 1:10.75 for the 1,200 meters on a fast track. Gray going white, X Y Jet has won 12 of 25 starts and come back strong from two extended layoffs, the first for more than a year, and most recently in January. By Kantharos, X Y Jet is out of the Lost Soldier mare Soldiersingstheblues. This year, for a change, Navarro wasn’t singing the blues after the Golden Shaheen.