Mind Your Biscuits Heads Malibu Field

The 2016 season has been all about forward progress for New York-bred colt Mind Your Biscuits.

In his first try against graded stakes company, the 3-year-old son of Posse captured the grade II Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga Race Course July 30. In his first deep dive as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships card, the chestnut colt was beaten just a nose for second in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) and ended up elevated to that position this week when news came down about runner-up Masochistic being disqualified for failing a post-race drug test.

The next step in the progression would be checking a top-level victory off the list. With rival and Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Drefong declared out of the Dec. 26 $300,000 Malibu Stakes (gr. I) after spiking a temperature, the odds are greatly in Mind Your Biscuits' favor to achieve that feat as he heads a field of 10 sophomore runners entered for the seven-furlong test at Santa Anita Park.

HUGHES: BC Sprint Winner Drefong to Miss Malibu

Since joining trainer Robert Falcone Jr. this season after previously being in the barn of Roderick Rodriguez, Mind Your Biscuits has upped his game and taken his 22-year-old conditioner to new heights in the process. After breaking his maiden fifth time out in his seasonal bow at Aqueduct Racetrack April 9, Mind Your Biscuits won an allowance test for New York-breds by 9 1/4 lengths three starts later to earn his way into the Amsterdam field, where he became Falcone's first graded stakes winner.

A fifth-place finish in the Ketel One King's Bishop (gr. I) Aug. 27 represents just the second time the chestnut colt has been worse than third in 12 career starts. Since his Breeders' Cup run, Mind Your Biscuits has signaled his readiness for one more start this year by turning in moves like his bullet four-furlong work in :47 1/5 at Santa Anita Dec. 18.

"He's recovered great after the Breeders' Cup and his workout the other day proved how good he was doing," Falcone said. "He gets over that track (Santa Anita) really nicely and hasn't really missed a beat since the Breeders' Cup. So we're looking for him to run a pretty solid race.

"The (Amsterdam) was big for me, but it was big for the horse too. We always felt like he was nice horse and when he broke his maiden for New York-breds and then won that allowance race ... most people were saying 'Well, it was a weak New York-bred allowance' blah, blah. Then, he won the Amsterdam and people were saying 'Well, it didn't come up that strong.' The way he ran in the Breeders' Cup just kind of put an ease on all the doubters."

BLOODHORSE STAFF: Mind Your Biscuits Takes Amsterdam

Owned by J. Stables, Head of Plains Partners, Kisber, M. Scott Summers, Hope Summers and Daniel Summers, Mind Your Biscuits has won three of 12 starts with $495,366 in earnings.

Though trainer Bob Baffert lost his top Malibu contender when he had to pull Drefong from consideration, the Hall of Famer still has three race entrants in Jazzy Times, Mor Spirit and Ten Blessings.

Jazzy Times was third to Baffert trainee Lord Nelson   in the grade I Santa Anita Sprint Championship Oct. 8 and has never been out of the money in seven starts. Grade I winner Mor Spirit will be making his first start since running 10th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) while Ten Blessings, who is out of champion Indian Blessing, makes his graded stakes debut.