Cajun Breeze jumps from the maidens to coming second in the Sunshine Millions Sprint on 28th January
The Sunshine Millions Sprint on 28th January at Gulfstream Park ended with a surprise triggered by the four-year-old colt, Cajun Breeze, after finishing second to, Soaring Stocks, who led by half a length.
Under the ownership of Shadybrook Farm and training of Michael Yates, Cajun Breeze had dwelled in maiden special weight races before the Sunshine Millions Sprint.
The maiden stakes which he had raced ranged from a distance of five and a half furlongs to six and a half furlongs. It was during the third try he broke his maiden by going through the six and a half furlong track in a minute and 16.39 seconds before
any other among the lot could go through the wire.
“I guess it was kind of a gutsy move running him in there off a maiden win,” said trainer Michael Yates “But I didn’t want to stretch him out in distance and step him up in class at the same time, so I thought we’d try the Sprint since it was a restricted
race”.
The Sunshine Sprint being restricted to the Florida-breds did not really impact the quality of talent that participated in the race, for instance it was competed by, Apriority, who has won graded stakes numerous times besides being positioned in one
of the Grade 1, and being part of the lineup of the previous year’s Breeders’ Cup.
The colt of Congrats out of Cajun Dawn, did not continue racing after his career debut at Calder, but once he did come back, he was strong and performed at par with the over qualified line up as compared to him in the Sunshine Millions Sprint.
“His shins were bugging him after his one start at 2 and they became kind of a chronic issue, so we gave him all the time off he needed,” said Yates. “He’s got more talent than any horse I’ve ever trained, so I wanted to give him plenty of time to
heal.”
The trainer, Yates, is still being quite very precautionary as instead of stepping Cajun Breeze up in regard with the grade, he wants Cajun Breeze’s next start to be in an allowance race and wants to test him for distances that are a little longer
than what he has already raced on.
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