Summers hopes to sing Mind Your Biscuits on the big stage

Finsbury Square (France) is taken for a ride in preparations for the Dubai World Cup at the Meydan Racetrack on Tuesday.

There have been some quirky names in the world of horse racing and Mind Your Biscuits could perhaps be one of them. And there is an interesting back story to Chad Summers' charge with the name actually inspired by American country singer Kacey Musgraves' song 'Mind your own biscuits.'
"It (his name) came from a song, it's a Kacey Musgraves song, she's a country music singer in America and the song is called 'Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy.' We were thinking about pinhooking him and selling him as a two-year-old, and when he didn't sell, I was on the phone with my brother, this song came on. And I said to my brother this song is hilarious. And I told him we need to name a horse 'Mind Your Biscuits.' And he was laughing," Summers revealed at the Meydan Racecourse on Tuesday.
Whether it is a laughing matter or no, Summers is hoping he can be all smiles and singing Musgraves' song at the end of the night, this Saturday.
Mind Your Biscuits, the four-year-old son of Posse is poised to land the Dubai Golden Shaheen, to be run over six furlongs, on Dubai World Cup night. The Malibu Stakes Group 1 winner, who also finished second to Drefong in the Breeders' Cup Sprint Group 1 last year, is one of the 14 runners in the race.
And Summers, who calls himself "Jack of all trades, master of none," having dabbled in almost ever role there is to horse racing, even being a reporter with the Thoroughbred Times, is confident that his "diamond," bought as a yearling for $30,000, can land the biggest payday of his fledging career.
"No pressure at all. I think we will make sure that the saddle is extra tight for that day but like I said, I mean, the opportunity to be here to win any race, let alone it being my first race in a $2 million race like this, in front of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and everybody else, would be fantastic," said Summers.
Towards that end, Summers has gleaned as much intel as possible from other American representatives, who have raced on Dubai World Cup night.
"Everything. I think I've talked to every single person who brought a horse from America over the last 10 years here and picked up little tit bits of information, learned a lot. Alan Sherman with California Chrome last year winning the World Cup, gave a lot of advice," he revealed.
Mind Your Biscuits is a closer and with blinkers on, he's become even more faster. And Summers said that it would be more of the same from his charge and will make tweaks, if needed, depending on how the dirt surface plays out.
"That's his strength. We are not going to change his strength. I know speed has been good so far here in Dubai and the inside has been well. We will watch the other races on the card, the Mile is the first race, the UAE Derby I think is race 4, so, we will see how the track is playing on the dirt on that day and make adjustments if we have to. But, there should be enough speed in there," reckoned Summers.
Summers knows his charge inside out and said he has been able to find the diamonds in the rough. And he hopes his first win as trainer comes with him. "It is a horse that I picked out myself as a yearling. I've worked with him everyday for the last three years, so, it is my name on paper now. But nobody knows the horse better than I do. I've slept outside his stall for years and before the Breeders Cup, and things like that. He knows me, I know him. Fittingly, I guess, my first win will be with him hopefully. Obviously, the other horses I ran in the States so far, they have come close, got a couple of seconds, but I think it would be a picture, telling a story, for this horse to win this race with me and my team behind me," Summers said.
james@khaleejtimes.com