Gr.3 Al Shindagha Sprint Winner Meraas Heads For Riyadh Debut

Mind Your Biscuits was the horse that landed him three Group Ones and even more importantly the dream for Chad Summers.

For the boy from Long Island who would go on to become a multiple Group One winner in a foreign land after growing up with not a single horse in sight, life truly has turned out to be gravy. 

It is a story in the ilk of Secretariat, Phar Lap or Hidalgo and will make a fan of the sport of kings from anybody. 

Summers, as a boy, would go to the races with his father and brother and it is from here where his passion and love for thoroughbred racehorses began.

"It was great growing up on Long Island; it was very nice, but there weren't many horses around," Summers said.

My father would take my brother and me to Belmont Park for the big race days, where they had a breakfast programme called Breakfast at Belmont, and we would just go and watch the horses train on a Saturday morning once in a while.

"From that point, I was hooked."

His small stature was the reason Summers originally wanted to join the industry.

"So, when I was growing up, I was really small. I was a freshman; I was four feet 10 and weighed 90 pounds. It was one of those things where I thought I was going to be a jockey. "I was riding, and I spent my summers riding and learning and wanting to be a jockey," he says with a laugh.

"When I was tall enough to ride the roller coaster, I was a junior in high school, and that dream had to go away. But the horses were always something I was passionate about, and I just loved the puzzle of watching horses get better and seeing what they would need to improve.

"Being on their back was something surreal, and once you start working with horses and watching races if you’re passionate about it, it’s something that kind of takes over."

"I mean, you can watch any other sport, but it doesn't have the same thing as a horse race does, you know, for the two minutes or mile and a half that the race is going on." "I mean, from start to finish, you're all in."

Summers' career as a trainer was never on his radar, according to him, in a story that sounds beyond reality.

"I never really thought I was going to be a trainer, actually." When I got too tall to be a jockey, I wanted to be a writer, and I did that. I worked for a lot of publications, I had a radio show, I worked for a couple of tracks, I was a clocker, and I was a bloodstock agent.

"I did a little bit of everything along the way." I became an owner, and I was just kind of getting hands-on experience and getting involved, and it got to a point of just trust. Sometimes I had trainers that just weren’t upfront or truthful, for whatever reason, and so eventually you’re just like, "Alright, I guess we’ll just do it ourselves."

From there, the path had begun for Summers in an industry that he had so much passion and love for, which in turn proved to be a masterstroke.

Going to the Gulf

Summers began with four horses, and the first race winner he trained was in the Group One Golden Shaheen in Dubai.

"Within a month of winning that race and returning to America, I had gone from four to 60 horses."

"That’s not the way you are meant to do it!" For anybody out there who wants to be a trainer or anything like that, I would say grow gradually and don't go from zero to 60. It's not good for a car, and it's not good for a career.

"So I made a lot of mistakes along the way, growing as quickly as we grew." In terms of influences, look, I’m a New York guy, so I grew up idolising the Nick Zito’s, H. Alan Jerkins, and his son Jimmy Jerkins of the world.

"It’s been really great both locally and internationally as my career has grown, you know, not only befriending some of these people that I have looked up to for so long as a kid but, you know, internationally when we travel and we get to go to some of these other countries, the acceptance of the other trainers and going into their yards, and then them showing us how they do things. "Look, everybody does things differently, and there's not a right or wrong answer. It's really great to just learn and see how people do things differently."

It was gravy all the way.

In 2017, a then-unnamed horse came into Summer's life, and things would never be the same.

That horse was a Posse progeny, Mind Your Biscuits, who delivered Summers his first Group One win and so many valuable lessons that have held him in good stead.

"So basically, me, my dad, and my brother had kind of dabbled a little bit with some cheaper horses." We just always loved the game but weren't a part of it.

"The initial plan was to try pin hooking and buy a yearling to develop into a 2 year old who could potentially sell for a good price at the sales; in the process, Summers saw potential in the horse."

"I saw this horse at the yearling sale, and he was all head and no body." You had to imagine what he would look like if he filled his body. But he had a walk that was beautiful, and he was in a tent barn. At the time, you couldn’t really see much in the tent. He only walked three or four steps before he turned around, so it wasn't really great.

"But when we were in the back ring for the night of the New York bred’s sale, he did a more landscaped walk for us." When I saw it, I said, "Man, he's got a gorgeous walk." At that point, you know, we hadn't vetted him out, and we didn't know what we were going to do. So, we just watched, and thankfully he didn't sell. He was passed for $47,000.

"So I got together my dad, my brother, and this girl, Susan Montaigne, who was going to break the horses for us. We decided to partner with the original people that had the horse, and we bought half of him on the evaluation for US$30,000. That's kind of where the story begins.

Going the whole hog

As Summers tells it, the story isn’t straightforward but rather one "filled with a lot of roller coasters," as he would detail.

"From the time I started watching him gallop, I kind of fell in love with him."

The initial plan to pin hook for profit was thrown out the window as Summers saw greater potential in the horse, and plans were beginning to change.

"He had been there for about a month, and I said, ‘Oh, you know what if we don't take this horse to the sale? What if we buy it from you guys? "What do you guys want to buy you out?"

Summers' mind was on the original evaluation of US$30,000, for which the three of them had bought in, but the other owners responded with a price of US$150,000—a price far in excess of any previously discussed figure.

"That's ludicrous," I told them. I loved watching this horse train. He was doing really well. We went to the sale, and a week before the sale, they had a prep sale.

"In that race, you’re going to go two fifths slower than you normally go; you’re not all out, but you’re going to get a feel for the track and all that kind of stuff." He saw a horse in front of him and prepped it in ten seconds flat; we thought, "Well, he's going to set a track record when he works on the day and sell for all this money."

"I still really did not want to sell him, but I loved the horse, and we will see what happens."

"So, on the day he was getting ready to breeze, and we had a really, really hot day, and his number was called for him in the fifth set, which was like at two o’clock in the afternoon, and it was like 85 degrees outside.

"When the weather gets warmer, a polytrack starts to kind of get more worn out." For that reason, he worked ten and three instead of ten flat, and every fifth of a second here in America, where we love speed, is a big deal.

"So even though he looked pretty good doing it at 10 and 3, nobody really liked him too much." He was Hip 1176 or something out of 1203, selling the last day and last hour of a marathon four-day sale.

"So he went back to the ring, and this time nobody wanted him, so he was passed up for $47,00, and I said let's just take him to the races and see what he can do."

"The next day I am driving to the airport and I get a call from Susan; she said, 'Look, there’s a guy who wants to give us $30,000 for him, and I think we should take it. I said if you want to take US$30,000, I am going to be the guy giving it to you for letting him go at that price.

With that, the group had a racehorse, one that Summers will never forget.

"He showed a lot of ability, but he was a giant pain." In the stall and while walking, he had a personality of his own and was very, very difficult.

"He finished second the first time out, second the second time out, and third in a $250,000 stakes race.It took a little while for the light bulb to really click for him, but you know, in the debut of his three-year-old season, he went up to New York again and won by eight lengths—that was really when you saw the ability starting to come out and he was really starting to figure out the game.

As that year went on, he ended up being a Group One winner, winning the famed Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita in December. From that point, the team began talking beyond the borders of the United States.

"It was then that we had to really start talking about going international." "I never had a passport before, and I didn’t know you had to go to the store to get a passport and wait weeks and months for it to arrive."

Mind Your Biscuits’ Middle East Debut

The destination was set for Dubai, targeting the prize money and prestige that come with racing in the UAE and the Middle East.

"We just thought, let’s do it, let’s go for it, and we went, and I remember that first trip there." I had taken out my training licence before we ran. However, he had run with other trainers like Robert Falcone, and the partners had wanted me to take out my license. So I did so.

"Before that trip, I think I had spoken to every American trainer, jockey, and groom—everybody who had been there before, because we had no idea what to expect." It's one thing to travel from one track to another a couple of hundred miles apart, but this is thousands and thousands of miles and hours away into a different time zone, and we got some really good advice just picking their brains on everything.

"I don’t think I left the horse stall for the 10 days we were there. To be able to win, and by that I mean to have a victory that I will never forget for the rest of my life."It was very, very special."

"Dubai is always going to hold a special place in my heart."

The following year, Summers would take Mind Your Biscuits back to Dubai, and the script became even more legendary with a second straight win in the Grade I Golden Shaheen.

"To go back the next year was really, really cool because we were off a little bit of a losing streak; we had lost three or four races in a row. I knew why we'd lost: we'd run well, we'd hit the board, and we'd competed in the Breeders Cup and other major races, but we hadn't crossed the finish line first.

"That second Golden Shaheen in Dubai, the race was so deep, I mean, XY Jet was in it, ran second a few years earlier, and went on to win the following year."Roy H had just won the Breeder’s Cup, and Jordan Sport was coming off a track record. So, it was just a really, really cool thing to be able to win the race that second time against that field.

"I mean, if you ever watch a replay of a race, I don't think you would have ever thought we were really a winner until maybe we got to the wire or even until at least our number flashed."

"I mean, we were so far behind, and X.Y. Jet kept giving it to him throughout the race.

"Biscuits was a really nice horse, and I just loved what he did." He loved to compete, and as long as there was a target in front of him, he tried to go get it.

"That’s what he did, and for us to be able to get up and win like that in Dubai in back-to-back years, it was just, I mean, so special."

The Highlights

Since taking out his training license, Mind Your Biscuits has been one of a unique few who have really helped Summers amass his list of successes, as he said.

"I mean, it's really complicated a lot of things because I still do a lot of buying and selling while I train."

"So I’ve been really blessed the last couple of years working with Gold Square Stables. We had horses like Cyberknife, who was second in the Breeders Cup but just recently retired and went to stud.

"On the Derby Trail this year with Instant Coffee and Slip Mahoney.Off The Tracks, a filly I had, won the Grade 1 Mother Goose; she was very special.She was the same year as Biscuits, and I mean, she was just an unbelievable horse.

"We had a filly named Truth Hurts that we bought for $30,000, and she earned $500,000 and ran against some of those monsters in the filly division, and you know, it's been kind of a trial of a lot of different things. But we've had a lot of success, more so on the bloodstock side than the training side. "Most of the horses I get are of the inexpensive variety, so to have them win stake races, sometimes it's a little bit tougher than the other ones."

Now, Riyadh is on the agenda.

The stable has 12 horses in training and is now preparing Meraas for a campaign in Saudi Arabia.

The 6YO gelded son of Oasis Dream joined the Summers yard last year from Al Mheiri after winning the Al Shindagha Sprint last season and his only other UAE race by nearly five lengths the year before.

The trainer admits that Meraas has an origin story just as interesting as Mind Your Biscuits' did.

"This is a pretty cool story." I was in Dubai for the World Cup last year, and I had seen a YouTube video.

"I always watch the carnivals! If you're a racing fan, you should watch the carnival and Dubai at that time every Thursday; now it's Friday. I mean, there are seven to eight races, and they're all great races.

"One night I saw on Youtube a great piece that my friend Laura King had done with the owner Maitha Alsuwaidi, who I think is like 24-years-old, you know, a very young owner, and it was great.

"I met Maitha when I was in Dubai, and I said, 'Look, if you ever come to America, I’d love to show you around, or if you need a place to stable your horse or whatever for a big race,' "She said thank you, and as the week went on, it went.

On Laura King’s Show, I was on Arabic TV, and I just kept saying that I thought Meraas would win the race. He caught my eye in the morning, and he was a cool horse.

"Anyway, he ended up getting scratched the morning of the race, and I got a call at midnight after the World Cup." It was her father who said we must see you, and I said OK.

"They came to my hotel, and my flight was at 2:30 the next morning to head back home to the States." They said they wanted to train you with Meraas.I said, "Okay, no problem." I didn’t know why he was scratched or what was wrong with him.

"We brought him to the States and gave him about six weeks off on the farm to get over any little ailments and just be a horse." "We then brought him up to Belmont, and he’s been with us since then."

The first time they breezed by Meraas, it was off the back of a six-month break from any form of work, and the result impressed Summers.

"We figured he would go an easy 600 metres in 39, and he went 35." We were like, "Whoa, that was interesting." Then he ran 800 metres and did so in 46. We started to think he might be pretty fast.

He would head to the races and run rather well.

"We wanted to start the year easy and see if we could make the Breeders Cup, and he ended up running third. He's gotten a little tired lately, but he was beaten by Elite Power, who came back and went on to win the Breeders Cup last year. So, certainly, you know really good form is there.

"The plan has always been to target these big races in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia or Dubai."Now that we know we are heading to Saudi Arabia, it's been all systems go since then.

"If you have a fast horse, other than the Breeders Cup, this is where you want to go," she said. "You want to go on the Middle Eastern circuit, where the Riyadh race is 1.5 million and the Dubai race is 2 million, and you can compete for big money."

Depending on how he performs in Saudi, a tilt at a third Golden Shaheen for summers with Meraas is far from out of the question.

Jockeys Galore

Having had some of the best onboard Meraas with the likes of Antonio Fresu in the past, the trainer has called upon the hands of a youthful but handy hoop in Abner Adorno for the ride in Riyadh.

"He rode him last time on December 30, and Abner is from Puerto Rico and a young kid. The thought process behind that is that he's gotten to know the horses, and although he's never been in this kind of race before, I feel like he's got nerves of steel.

"I think that this race is going to mean a lot to him." He's never had this opportunity, and I want to give him that opportunity. I think he deserves the opportunity.

"It's funny because, as you know, I’ve gotten some calls from some of the top American jockey agents here as well, telling me the races they are riding in or when they are free." "It's just something that we hold close to our hearts; I'm a very loyal person, and we've just got to stick with Abner for right now."

The stable may be small, but it also has a couple of other handy types who are looking to impress when given the opportunity.

"Yeah, there's a horse that we ran once last year; he had a little problem in the race. He finished behind Shadow Dragon and came back around second in The Holy Bull on Saturday, riding a horse named "Thank You, Jon." "He's a three-year-old now, and he’s one that we're really excited about."

As he readies to head to Saudi Arabia before another Dubai campaign, his hunger for international success grows, but so does the hunger for a special win closer to home.

Another Goal For Everest?

"We love travelling internationally but haven't gotten to places like Ascot or Australia. We would love to ride a horse to the top of Mount Everest.

But, once again, we recognise that we do not take these matters lightly.We don't plan on running in these races to just be participants; we're not looking for a blue ribbon.

"You know we're going there because we think that we can compete and bring home a victory, and we know what it takes."

"We've come really close to the Breeders' Cup." I still feel like we should have won at least one of them so far. Even with my affiliation with Gold Square through CyberKnife, we got beaten by a nose in the Breeders' Cup last year.

"So any Breeders Cup race, I would love to win."