X Y Jet shifts focus to Dubai Golden Shaheen after loss
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro was definitely not a happy man after watching his sprint star, X Y Jet, get run into the ground in a suicidal speed battle with Ray’swarrior in defense of his title in Saturday’s $100,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint. But Navarro remain composed when reflecting on the turn of events that led to his horse’s fourth-place finish in his 2019 debut.
X Y Jet, with regular rider Emisael Jaramillo aboard, and Ray’swarrior, Luis Saez up, dueled each other into submission contesting splits of 21.09 and 43.54 seconds for the opening quarter- and half-mile of the six-furlong Sunshine Millions Sprint.
Quijote took advantage of the frenetic pace, rallying to an easy 3 3/4-length victory as a 23-1 outsider, with Rays’warrior doing well to finish second and X Y Jet tiring along the rail to finish 6 1/2 lengths behind the winner in his first start since capturing the Grade 3 Smile Sprint here on June 29.
“I used to get really upset when something like this happened. I’d want to grab someone by the throat afterwards,” said Navarro. “Not anymore. I’ve gotten better. But what happened out there today wasn’t horsemanship. From both jockeys. Mine too. Saez actually apologized to me. He admitted he was wrong, and that you can’t win races doing something like that. But you know, it is what it is. That’s horse racing. Sometimes these things happen.”
Navarro said that from all indications, X Y Jet came out of the race in good order and would proceed toward his first major goal of the season, a return trip to Dubai for the Golden Shaheen. X Y Jet has already finished second twice in the rich and prestigious Grade 1 event, including last spring when run down in the final strides by Mind Your Biscuits.
“I’ll see how he comes out of this, how he’s doing in a few days, before deciding on a plan,” said Navarro. “If all is well, I could run him back one more time here this winter, in the Gulfstream Park Sprint on March 2, which gives us 28 days before the race in Dubai.”
Owner Ron Paolucci also had every reason to vent following Dalmore’s unlucky third-place finish in Saturday’s main event, the $200,000 Sunshine Millions Classic. Dalmore got shuffled back along the inside and was forced to steady in traffic during the early stages of the Classic under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. He finally tipped out wide for clearance into the stretch, loomed boldly through midstretch, but fell three parts of a length short of catching race winner Souper Tapit.
“Irad’s one of the greatest riders in the world,” said Paolucci. “But he was also riding against two of the greatest in Saez and Johnny [Velazquez]. Maybe if he had it all to do over again, he’d have been a little more aggressive earlier. But I have no complaints with the ride. These things happen. It’s all part of the game.”
Meanwhile, Souper Tapit will be headed for bigger and better things on dirt following his game victory. Souper Tapit, a homebred son of Tapit owned by Live Oak Plantation, earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure in winning an off-the-turf allowance race by nine lengths on Dec. 16 and nearly duplicated that effort, posting a 95 Beyer despite getting hung wide throughout the Classic.
Trainer Mark Casse, speaking by phone from Fair Grounds after the race, said he was wary of the outside post for Souper Tapit due to the short run to the first turn in races run at nine furlongs here on the dirt. But Souper Tapit overcame the disadvantage under a heady ride by Velazquez while likely earning himself another opportunity for a graded stakes win later this winter. Souper Tapit won the Grade 3 Marine at Woodbine during the spring of his 3-year-old campaign.
“I was scared of the post, a lot, but fortunately he was good enough to overcome it,” said Casse. “He’s a horse we’ve always thought a lot of, it’s just taken him forever to get his brain going. He’s not bad on turf, he’s had some bad luck while running some big races on grass. But that being said, he won’t be going back to the turf right now.”
