Summers Hopeful of Another Overseas Trip With Meraas

Six years ago, trainer Chad Summers did not have a passport.

"I didn't think I'd ever need one," he recalled.

Since then, Summers' thoughts about distant shores have definitely changed.

Introduced to the need for a passport through training and owning a share of Mind Your Biscuits , who won the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in 2017 and 2018 at Meydan Racecourse, Summers estimates he's made eight trips to Dubai.

He's also traveled to Japan and Uruguay for races.

"Horse racing is amazing because it can take you places you never thought you'd go and you'll meet people you never thought you'd meet," Summers said. "It changes your life."

Summers has high hopes of making another trip to the Middle East next month alongside a 6-year-old sprinter he calls "the fastest horse in America." 

When Maitha Salem Mohammed Belobaida Alsuwaidi's Meraas  closed out 2022 with an eye-opening victory at Aqueduct Racetrack, it was all Summers needed to nominate the son of Oasis Dream  to the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) Feb. 25 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia.

"He's not Flightline   but he's brilliantly fast and you can't teach that. It's amazing to watch him. The water gets deeper in a race like this but I think he's a legit horse," said Summers, whose gelding was third behind eventual Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner Elite Power  in his first United States start. "He's so naturally fast. I've never been around a horse as fast as he is."

While the 14-horse field Riyadh Dirt Sprint will be chosen by race officials and invitations handed out in the next week or so, Meraas certainly looked like a worthy contender for the 1,200-meter (about six furlongs) test in his Dec. 30 dazzler at Aqueduct.

Making his third U.S. start since joining Summers' barn in late May, Meraas dominated a field of eight rivals in a six-furlong allowance optional claimer. Breaking fast under Abner Adorno, the group 3 winner darted away to an imposing 6 1/2-length lead after a half-mile in a lightning-quick :44.85. Still ahead by 5 1/2 lengths at the eighth pole, the bay gelding cruised under the wire clear by 2 1/4 lengths in a time of 1:10.39 that was faster than the 1:10.69 Drafted  needed to win the $135,000 Gravesend Stakes in the very next race at the Big A.

"The Riyadh Dirt Sprint has attracted some good horses that have headed over to Saudi Arabia and we're looking forward to having the opportunity to be in the race. I believe he was in the mix before his win and I'm hopeful they will invite him," Summers said. "We know what we have to do to get ready for an international trip, so we're optimistic that we'll be OK."

Even though Meraas' half-mile time was more than two lengths quicker than the :45.38 in the Gravesend, Summers wore a big smile when he saw his horse's fractions that afternoon.

"All the rider has to do is drop your hands and this horse is gone. We've tried to get him to relax and we were happy with the fractions of :22.18 and :44.85," Summers said. "He just takes off. I asked Abner if Meraas was getting tired at the end and he said he was getting bored and was looking around. On the replay, when they came to him on the gallop-out, you could see he responded and started running again. That gives us confidence because it's a long 500-meter stretch in Saudi Arabia and you have to make sure your horse is fit enough to handle it."

Meraas, bred by Rabbah Bloodstock out of the Authorized   mare Rehns Nest (IRE), owns a career record of 6-1-2 from 17 starts. In his final start before his connections shipped him to the United States, he won the Feb. 11 Al Shindagha Sprint (G3) at Meydan. 

He was scheduled to run in the Golden Shaheen at Meydan for trainer Musabbeh Al Mheiri on the March 26 Dubai World Cup (G1) card, but he was withdrawn from the race, and a chain of events unfolded that put Meraas in Summers' New York barn.

"I met the owner when I was in Dubai (last year) and told her that if she ever wanted to send him to the United States I would be happy to provide a barn for him and help with whatever I could," Summers said. "I didn't expect anything and had a 2 a.m. flight home when I got a call from her around midnight. So, we got together a half-hour later and worked everything out."

The plan called for Meraas to be shipped to the United States, and after 60 days at Brittany Nakatani's Paragon Farm he joined Summers' stable.

"Brittany took tremendous care of him," Summers said. "He looked great when we got him in late May and it was a matter of getting him fit and ready for the major races."

A few months later, Summers targeted a Sept. 3 allowance optional claimer at Saratoga Race Course for Meraas' first U.S. start. The gelding set a fast :44.76 half-mile pace in the six-furlong sprint, but weakened in the final furlong and finished third, 4 1/2 lengths behind Juddmonte's victorious Elite Power, the subsequent Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner who is also pointing toward the Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

"We were probably one work shy for the Saratoga race but I thought it was a nice spot," Summers said. "Then Elite Power showed up and obviously he's a nice horse."

The original idea was to use the allowance race as a prep for the Oct. 8 Vosburgh Stakes (G2), but when that race was shifted to seven furlongs, the target became the Oct. 29 six-furlong Bold Ruler Stakes (G3), which proved disastrous. Meraas was bumped into the rail shortly after the start and never recovered, finishing 10th by nearly 20 lengths.

"I didn't want to go seven furlongs with him, so we didn't run in the Vosburgh. He was really peaking then and maybe we waited a bit too long to run in the Bold Ruler. In the Bold Ruler, he broke slow and a horse came over and we hit the rail pretty good and he came back cut all over. There was some bleeding but it was from the stress of hitting the rail. The race was a total throwout," said Summers, who would consider some sprint stakes at Oaklawn Park if Meraas is not invited to the Saudi race. "We went back to square one with him."

The Dec. 30 win put a trip to Saudi Arabia back on the radar. Although Summers may have just 54 wins in a training career that started in 2017, he's highly skilled at preparing a horse for an overseas trip, as reflected in his work with Mind Your Biscuits. The $3.5 million earner won back-to-back editions of the Golden Shaheen for Summers and is now a stallion in Japan, where he was the leading freshman sire in 2022.

"To go overseas you have to watch the weather because you have to get everything set. You find out when the horse is leaving and plan the works back from that. When do you want the last work? When do you want the blacksmith to shoe him? You have to hydrate him properly because you are going to the desert. When you arrive in Dubai, you think you are in New York, but it's the desert and the crucial thing is having the proper hydration for the trip and when you're there," Summers said. "In Dubai, there's a long two-mile walk to the track and the races are at night, so with 'Biscuits' we would tack him up at Palm Meadows and walk around for 45 minutes to prepare for that and we would be the first ones on the track to kind of simulate what it will be like running at night under the lights. Taking care of little things like that go a long way toward being successful."

And they especially come in handy when you have to travel a long way for a race, as Summers has learned in his six years as an international traveler.