Shadai Farm had been eyeing international grade 1 star sprinter Mind Your Biscuits as a stallion prospect since last summer. The son of Posse sealed the deal in March when he won the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1) for the second consecutive year and in track-record time.
"When we went back to Dubai, they were impressed at what we were able to do running Lasix-free. They made us a very nice offer," said trainer Chad Summers, who initially found the colt as a yearling after he was a $47,000 buy-back at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred preferred yearling sale.
As initially reported by Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, Shadai recently completed an outright purchase of Mind Your Biscuits, who will continue racing through the rest of 2018 and is expected to enter stud in Japan next year. Shadai leased back 50% of the horse to the previous ownership group, which includes J Stables, M. Scott Summers, Daniel and Hope Summers, Head of Plains, and Michael Kisber. Mind Your Biscuits will continue racing in Shadai's silks.
"Shadai is a big proponent of medication-free racing. It is the purity of the horse that's out there," Summers said. "Also, the farm wants to introduce more speed into their pedigrees. I'm excited that they believe Mind Your Biscuits can be a top-tier stallion. They are not just taking a chance on him."
A year ago, Summers said he was hoping a stallion deal might get done in the United States. Instead, the trainer said he got a taste of what the owners of California Chrome might have gone through.
"We found the farms will pay more for better pedigree than better race results. I think California Chrome is a token example. Here the horse was going for the Triple Crown, and farms were more interested in Tonalist , Palace Malice , and Ride on Curlin . Then California Chrome was able to do what he did as an older horse, winning the (Dubai) World Cup (G1) and the Pacific Classic (G1), and the deal got done. Now his babies look outstanding, and I think he's going to be good stallion."
Like Mind Your Biscuits, Posse excelled as a sprinter. The grade 2-winning son of Silver Deputy won the Riva Ridge Breeders' Cup Stakes (G2) and Lafayette Stakes (G3), both at seven furlongs, and finished third in the grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes (G1) going 6 1/2 furlongs. Posse now stands in Uruguay.
On the dam side, Mind Your Biscuits is out of the unraced Toccet mare Jazzmane. She has produced four winners out of seven foals, and Mind Your Biscuits is her only black-type performer. Jazzmane's dam, Alljazz (by Stop the Music), finished off the board in two career starts. Her best runners include multiple stakes winner Kimchi and stakes-placed winners Deputy Jazz (War Deputy) and King of Jazz (K One King).
Mind Your Biscuits' speed has put him the winner's circle of five graded stakes: two editions of the Golden Shaheen, Malibu Stakes (G1), Belmont Sprint Championship Stakes (G2), and Amsterdam Stakes (G2). With earnings of $3,719,286, he is the richest New York-bred in history.
The June 9 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park is Mind Your Biscuit's next target. Beyond the Met Mile, Summers is eyeing the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and another shot at the Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), which Mind Your Biscuits lost last year to Sharp Azteca.
"I have permission to run him through December, so we'll also be looking at the Clark (Handicap, G1). The horse comes first, so if he wants to do it, we'll have one more race after the Breeders' Cup," Summers said.
Samantha Will Baccari's Jumping Jack Racing bred Mind Your Biscuits and sold him as a yearling for $47,000 at the 2014 Keeneland January winter mixed sale to Carrie Brogden's Machmer Hall. Brogden then partnered with Imagine...'s Marne Fauber and Heidi Cecil and offered the colt through the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale. When Mind Your Biscuits didn't sell, Summers bought 25% of the horse.
As Summers watched the colt train toward the Ocala Breeders' Sales April 2-year-olds in training sale, he was convinced he saw a good racehorse in the making. Mind Your Biscuits was bought back on a final bid of $47,000 at the OBS sale, so Summers put together an ownership group that included J Stable, his father, and his brother and bought out the partners. The colt broke his maiden at 3 with trainer Robert Falcone Jr. and four races later won the Amsterdam at Saratoga Race Course. Head of Plains and Kisber joined as owners three weeks before a start in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Sprint, where the colt finished second.
Summers took over as the colt's trainer in 2017, the same year he took out his trainer's license.
"As a yearling, he was all head and no body, but when he would gallop, he was fantastic. He was an athlete," Summers recalled. He said Dennis Chavez, who was the exercise rider for Florida Derby (G1) winner Ice Box, used to gallop the colt during his early training on the farm.
"Almost every day Dennis would tell me this horse is the next Ice Box," Summers said. "The horse was kind of a pain in the ass, but when he was on the track, it was like he was floating on air. And now for him to take us on this journey to two Breeders' Cups and two World Cup days has been a dream, and you don't want to wake up.
"Making this deal was not easy, because I don't want to fly to Japan every year to go see him, but I will. I have been with him almost every day for four years," the trainer continued. "I'm excited he'll have a chance and be supported with some really great mares."
