Just Right Mike Speeds to Victory in Gulfstream Maiden

In a 2-year-old maiden race May 8 at Gulfstream Park that featured Restored Order, the first starter for sire Frosted , it was instead a juvenile with a touch of experience, Just Right Mike, who stole the show.

The Cajun Breeze  colt, who was third in his April 17 debut at Gulfstream, took a step forward in his second outing. He pushed the pace of leader Carson City Kid through an opening quarter-mile in :22.48, took command with a half-mile in :46.37, and inched away for a 1 1/4-length victory in the $63,000 race. 

Just Right Mike ($7.20), owned and bred by Shadybrook Farm, was trained to victory by Michael Yates of Shadybrook. He completed 4 1/2 furlongs under Miguel Vasquez in :52.92, the slowest of four maiden special weight races for 2-year-olds during the meet.

All juvenile racing at Gulfstream this year is without the use of the diuretic Lasix within 24 hours of post time. 

“He ran really well today. He sat off the lead horse and when he asked him, he went on,” Yates said. “I’m thrilled.”

Carson City Kid, an Uncaptured gelding and a full brother to grade 3 winner Catherinethegreat, held second for trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber. He finished a neck ahead of third-place Restored Order.

The latter, a Todd Pletcher trainee for St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable, was bet down to 9-5 favoritism. He threatened when making a three-wide move on the turn but flattened out down the stretch while racing greenly. He was reluctant to switch leads and drifted inward in the final sixteenth, causing jockey Luis Saez to steady him on the heels of the winner.

Just Right Mike, bred in Florida out of the unraced Da Stoops mare Wishiwoulda, is his dam's second winner from as many foals to race. Her first winner, Just Right Mike's full brother Highwaytwentyseven, is 1-for-4 with earnings of $10,590.

Being by a Florida stallion—Cajun Breeze stands at Stonehedge Farm South in Willston for a private fee—Just Right Mike is eligible for the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes, a series of races run annually at Gulfstream.

Just Right Mike is from the third crop of Cajun Breeze, who won four races and nearly $246,860 for Shadybrook and co-owner.Rob Eversole. Yates trained him for much of the horse's 33-race career.

“The main thing was that I really had a lot of confidence in the horse and believed that he could have been much more than what he achieved on the track,” Yates said. “I got to looking at his pedigree—he’s by Congrats , a son of A. P. Indy, and the mare is a daughter of Awesome Again. I just thought he had the pedigree to make a sire. He was a good sound horse.”

Another son of Cajun Breeze, Cajun Firecracker, won the Dr. Fager division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes in 2018 for Shadybrook.