By DRF.com
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mici’s Express won his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $188,000 California Cup Derby for statebreds at Santa Anita.
But instead of being a prep for a challenging start in a graded stakes in coming weeks or months, Mici’s Express is going to the sidelines.
“I’ll turn him out for awhile,” trainer Steve Knapp said on Sunday. “He’s run hard enough. He deserves time off.”
Mici’s Express, bred by Eagle Ridge Racing & Rancho San Miguel and owned by Tom Halasz, had been a busy colt since last April. He has won 2 of 11 starts and earned $248,530, racing at least once a month through the final nine months of 2023.
Along the way, Mici’s Express needed five races to beat maidens and then ran in five stakes in his final five starts of 2023, including a third by three-quarters of a length in the Graduation Stakes at Del Mar in August and a nose loss in the I’m Smokin Stakes there in early September.
“In my opinion, he should have won both races at Del Mar,” Knapp said.
In the Cal Cup Derby at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, Mici’s Express ($13) closed from fourth in a field of five to win by 1 1/2 lengths. He was fitted with blinkers for the first time and stalked a slow pace before reaching contention in early stretch.
Knapp said he would prefer to start Mici’s Express in distance races later this year. One option may be the $125,000 Snow Chief Stakes for statebred 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita in late May.