Six years ago, coach Chad Summers didn’t have a passport.
“I didn’t think I was going to need it,” he recalls.
Since then, Summers’ thinking about distant shores has certainly changed.
Get introduced to the need for passports through training and part ownership of your cookie heart who won the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in 2017 and 2018 at Meydan Racecourse, Summers estimates he has made eight trips to Dubai.
He also went to Japan and Uruguay to participate in races.
“Equestrian racing is amazing because it can take you places you never thought you would go and you meet people you never thought you would,” Summers said. “It changes your life.”
Summers has high hopes of making another trip to the Middle East next month with the 6-year-old sprinter he calls “America’s fastest horse”.
When Maitha Salem Mohammed Belobaida of Alsuwaidi Meraas close 2022 with an eye-opening victory at Aqueduct race trackthat was all Summers needed to nominate her son oasis dream to the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) on February 25 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia.
“He is not Flight route but he’s super fast and you can’t teach that. It was great to see him. The water is going to be deeper in a race like this but I think he’s a legit horse,” said Summers, who finished third behind the eventual Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner. elite power on his first U.S. start. “He’s naturally fast. I’ve never ridden a horse as fast as him.”
While the 14-horse Riyadh Dirt Sprint field will be selected by race officials and invitations awarded over the next week or so, Meraas certainly looks like a worthy candidate for the 1,200 meter test ( about six feathers) in his brilliant December 30 performance at the Aqueduct.
Starting for the third time in the United States since joining Summers’ warehouse in late May, Meraas has dominated a field of eight competitors in a single claimant of a six-slot subsidy option. Breaking quickly under the lead of Abner Adorno, the group 3 winner took an impressive 6 1/2 lead after half a mile at a lightning pace: 44.85. Still leading 5 1/2 lengths in eighth column, gelding bay flew under a clear 2 1/4 length in time 1:10.39, faster 1:10.69 editor needed to win $135,000 Gravesend Stakes in the next race at Big A.
Meraas doing track work in front of the Golden Shaheen at Meydan . Racecourse
“Riyadh Dirt Sprint has attracted some good horses that have come to Saudi Arabia and we are looking forward to the opportunity to enter the race. I believe he entered before winning and I hope they will invite. him,” Summers said. “We know what we have to do to get ready for an international trip, so we’re optimistic we’ll be fine.”
Though Meraas’ half-mile time was two miles faster than: 45.38 in Gravesend, Summers had a big smile on his face when he saw his horse’s fractions that afternoon.
“All the rider has to do is drop his hand and this horse will disappear. We’ve tried to relax him and we’re happy with the fractions: 22.18 and :44.85 ,” Summers said. “He just took off. I asked Abner if Meraas was tired in the end and he said he was bored and was looking around. In the replay, when they reached him on the gallop. , you can see he has replied and has started running again. That gives us confidence because it’s a 500 meter stretch in Saudi Arabia and you have to make sure your horse is I’m strong enough to handle it.”
Meraas, bred by Rabbah Bloodstock in addition to authority mare Rehns Nest (IRE), owns a career record of 6-1-2 after 17 starts. In his last start before his ties took him to the United States, he won the February 11 Al Shindagha (G3) Sprint in Meydan.
He was scheduled to compete for the Golden Shaheen in Meydan for coach Musabbeh Al Mheiri on the Dubai World Cup (G1) card on March 26, but he was withdrawn from the race and a string of events unfolded. make Meraas go to Summers’ New York barn.
“I met the owner while I was in Dubai (last year) and told her that if she wanted to send him to the United States, I would gladly provide him with a barn and help with anything I could. maybe,” Summers said. “I wasn’t expecting anything and had a flight home at 2am when I got a call from her around midnight. So we met half an hour later and worked things out. job.”
The plan called for Meraas to be moved to the United States, and after 60 days at Brittany Nakatani’s Paragon Ranch, he joined the Summers stables.
“Brittany took great care of him,” Summers said. “He looks great when we have him at the end of May and the point is to get him healthy and ready for the big races.”
A few months later, Summers targeted an optional claimant on September 3 at Racecourse Saratoga for Meraas’ first U.S. start. Gelding set a quick pace: 44.76 half a mile in the six-distance sprint, but weakened in the final leg and finished third, 1/2 of the Juddmonte 4 winner. elite powerthe next Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner, who is also heading to the Riyadh Dirt Sprint.
Summers said: “We were probably shy of going to the Saratoga race but I think it’s a great venue. “Then Elite Power showed up and he was obviously a good horse.”
The original idea was to use a subsidy race to prepare for the October 8 (G2) Vosburgh Stake (G2), but when that race was converted to seven stakes, the goal was to become a six-pin Bold Ruler Stake on the 29th. October (G3), which proved disastrous. Meraas hit the rails shortly after starting and never recovered, finishing in 10th place for nearly 20 runs.
Meraas with connections after winning Al Shindagha Sprint
“I didn’t want to go seven stretches with him, so we didn’t run in Vosburgh. He was really at his peak then and maybe we waited a little while to run in Bold Ruler. In Bold. Ruler, he broke down slow down and a horse came and we hit the railing pretty well and he came back with wounds all over his body there was some bleeding but that was from the stress of hitting the rails. can. The race is a total throw-out,” said Summers, who will consider sprinting several stakes at Oaklawn Park if Meraas was not invited to the race in Arabia. “We got back to square one with him.”
The December 30 victory put the trip to Saudi Arabia back in the spotlight. Although Summers may have only 54 wins in a coaching career that began in 2017, he is highly skilled in preparing horses for overseas trips, as shown in his work with Mind Your. Biscuits. The $3.5 million earner has won consecutive editions of the Golden Shaheen for the Summer and is now a stallion in Japan, where he’s the top freshman in 2022.
“To go abroad, you have to keep an eye on the weather because you have to prepare everything. You know when the horse is leaving and plan the works from there. When do you want the final piece? When? you want the blacksmith to make his shoes You have to give him enough water because you are going to the desert When you arrive in Dubai you think you are in New York but it is a desert and it is important to provide enough water for the trip and when you’re there,” Summers said. “In Dubai, the track is a two-mile walk and the races take place at night, so with ‘Biscuits’ we’ll pick him up at Palm Meadows and walk for 45 minutes to prepare for that. and we’ll be the first on the track to simulate what it’s like to run at night under the lights. Caring for little things like that will help you achieve success in the long run. .”
And they’re especially useful when you have to travel a long distance for a race, as Summers has learned in six years as an international traveler.
