Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
X Y Jet using Smile Sprint to begin Breeders’ Cup push
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro has one goal and one goal only in mind for X Y Jet during the second half of the season: to get to and win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. And Navarro plans to take the easiest route possible to have his fragile speedster ready to peak at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, an itinerary that begins Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $250,000 Smile Sprint.
The six-furlong Smile Sprint will be the penultimate leg of a Rainbow 6 sequence whose pool will be disbursed Saturday, closing day of the spring meet. The pool could be in the vicinity of $5 million if it is not hit on either of the previous two days. The Smile Sprint goes as the 13th event on the marathon 14-race Summit of Speed program, with first post at 11:55 a.m. Eastern.
The Smile Sprint no longer has the distinction of being part of the Challenge Series for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. That does not matter to Navarro. Nor does the fact that the Smile Sprint is only a Grade 3 race. What does matter to Navarro is that the Smile Sprint is to be decided over a track on which X Y Jet has been dominant over the past several years, and he believes it is the perfect place for his star to begin the second half of the season on the road to the Breeders’ Cup.
“He’s a gelding, so we have nothing to accomplish by winning a Grade 1, and I’m not concerned about a Win and You’re In,” Navarro said. “If he’s good enough, which I know he is, he’ll get into the race, and if we have to pay our own expenses to get there, that’s not an issue either. I just want to keep this horse happy and sound and make things as easy as I can for him until the Breeders’ Cup.”
The 6-year-old X Y Jet is coming off his second frustrating near miss in the Dubai Golden Shaheen in the last three years, having been run down in the final strides by Mind Your Biscuits and dropping a head decision on March 31 in Meydan. He was beaten a neck by Muarrab after leading through midstretch in the 2016 Golden Shaheen.
“It was such an odd experience for me in Dubai,” said Navarro. “For whatever reason, I blanked out when the field turned into the stretch, and when I came to, they had already hit the wire. I had to ask somebody whether we had won or not. But even in defeat, he still ran a huge race. Running like that against Mind Your Biscuits and Roy H, you couldn’t ask for more.”
X Y Jet, who has undergone three knee surgeries during his career, has won his last five starts at Gulfstream Park, including the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector in 2015 and 2017 and the Sunshine Millions Sprint by 5 1/2 lengths last winter.
“The main reason for bringing him back in the Smile is the racetrack,” Navarro said. “His record there speaks for itself. If all goes well, he may have only one more start before the Breeders’ Cup. This horse is so special to me, considering battling all the surgeries and what he’s been through over the years. You just can’t help but appreciate a horse like X Y Jet, and it would mean more to me for him to win the Breeders’ Cup than it would to win it myself.”
Like X Y Jet, Classic Rock has had his races well spaced on the comeback trail and is very fond of Gulfstream Park, having won six of seven starts over his home track, including the Jeblar Stakes on May 6. His only local defeat came one year ago in the Grade 3 Carry Back, where he finished fifth after a wide trip.
“We devised a plan for this horse several months ago with the Smile as our first major goal for the year,” said trainer Kathy Ritvo. “If all goes well Saturday, we’ll think about taking him out of town and planning a summer and fall campaign that might get us to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Classic Rock, who has always been an outstanding work horse, has turned in a series of eye-catching bullet drills since the Jeblar. Luis Saez, who has guided Classic Rock to his last three victories, will have the mount again Saturday. Classic Rock breaks from post 2, with X Y Jet in the outside post.
“In a perfect world, we’d love to be breaking outside X Y Jet, not inside,” said Ritvo. “But we also have the utmost confidence Luis will handle that situation just fine.”
Mo Cash proved no match for X Y Jet when he finished a troubled second in the Sunshine Millions Sprint, and he’s been training up a storm since being transferred to trainer Aubrey Maragh this spring.
The remainder of the field is Reason to Soar, Mr. Jordan, Petrov, Splash Rules, and Sweetontheladies.