Mind Your Biscuits Rallies to Repeat in Golden Shaheen

The reaction came like a ton of bricks as the Americans crossed the wire 1-2-3 in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1).

Chad Summers' eyes were wide in amazement, while Jorge Navarro had his hands on his hips, stunned, as he watched the Meydan video board.

The Summers-trained Mind Your Biscuits was nowhere to be found early on, but he arrived on the scene late to just catch the Navarro-trained X Y Jet by a head to win his second straight edition of the Golden Shaheen.

In the final 200 meters, it appeared to be a Rockingham Ranch domination, as champion U.S. sprinter Roy H attempted to wear down his rival carrying the same light blue and black colors. But as it became clear Roy H would not get past the frontrunner, Mind Your Biscuits emerged on the outside.

Last in the eight-horse field turning for home in the 1,200-meter (about six-furlong) dirt test, the New York-bred son of Posse moved past Roy H, got within a length of X Y Jet with 50 meters to run, and put his head down at the wire to finish the distance in 1:10.12, a track record. Roy H finished third, another three-quarters of a length back.

It was Mind Your Biscuit's first win since the July 8 Belmont Sprint Championship Stakes (G2), which followed his first Golden Shaheen score.

"We had lost four in a row, but we had reasons for all four," Summers said. "He’s a horse that knows where the wire is, and he just never gives up. For my staff in New York and Florida and internationally, it’s such an unbelievable thing for them—the team that gets everything done. It’s never about the trainer and never should be about the trainer. For the horse, it’s important he showed who the real Mind Your Biscuits was."

The race took an unexpected turn early, which might have had just enough of an effect to change the result in such a tight finish. X Y Jet was sent from post 2 by jockey Emisael Jaramillo as expected, but he did not get the lead. From of the outside post came the Dubai local, Jordan Sport, and he outsprinted the speedy gray to the front, crossed over to the rail to put X Y Jet in tight quarters, and forced Jaramillo to angle the Kantharos  gelding to the outside in the backstretch.

Out of the inside post, Rosario also got Mind Your Biscuits off the rail early and went into the turn at least three wide, at the back of the field.

"I just hoped he had a last kick, because he was far away," Rosario said. "By the three-sixteenths (pole), I could see I was getting to the horse on the lead, but I still had a long way to go."

It was the second brutal beat for X Y Jet in the Golden Shaheen. In 2016, he was beaten a head by Muarrab. The connections from the other Rockingham entry had reasons to excuse Roy H's third-place finish.

"The start cost him the race," trainer Peter Miller said. "He got left at the start, and if he doesn't get left, he wins. That's horse racing."

"He stumbled leaving the gate, and after one length we were eight lengths back," jockey Kent Desormeaux added about the 2017 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner's trip. "He made up five lengths quite quickly, but then got hit across the head by a neighbor's whip, and it was all too much for him. He was the best horse in the race."

Wild Dude, a two-time U.S. grade 1 winner in 2015 now based in Dubai, made a run up the rail to pick up fourth at the age of 8. He was followed by Matera Sky, Jordan Sport, Reynaldothewizard, and My Catch to complete the order of finish.

After the race, trainer Satish Seemar said Reynaldothewizard, a 12-year-old Speightstown gelding who won the Golden Shaheen in 2013, would be retired.

"That was his last race. He will now be retired," Seemar said. "He just could not go with the younger horses tonight. He is the most popular horse in the UAE and doesn't owe anyone anything. The good thing is that we will retire him 100% with everything healthy. It's the fair thing to do for the horse."