Mighty Mikee built back up to speed

Mighty Mikee is back, and in a big way.

The grey Manitoba-bred three-year-old won the $40,000 by 23 lengths on Tuesday for trainer Devon Gittens. Not only was his margin of victory the largest in North America on the day, but the time was sizzling fast. He was like the Mighty Mikee of old.

“That brought tears to my eyes,” said breeder Larry Falloon, who co-owns the horse with Anne Champion and McLaren Racing.

Last year’s co-champion CTHS Horse of the Year as a two-year-old off the strength of three wins. including the $40,000 CTHS Sales Stakes and the $40,000 Buffalo Stakes, Mighty Mikee was transferred to the barn of another trainer for the start of this season. After finishing last twice and second last once, he was transferred back to Gittens.

“The only reason I moved him out was because Devon went to Toronto and said he couldn’t take two-year-olds,” said Falloon. “So I needed somebody else. I thought it wouldn’t matter who he went to, he’d probably be pretty good. That’s not the case.”

Mighty Mikee was returned to Gittens after three poor showings this year, and the Gittens team spent about a month getting him ready for his first start for them in the Sifton.

The trainer, assistant trainer, owners and breeder all wanted to make sure expert horse breaker Florent Rivard got credit for doing some extra work with the horse on his comeback trail.

“We retrained him,” said Champion. “Rivard, the horse whisperer, worked with the horse, and Devon came back and went with him, to get him back on track.”

That would be an understatement with regard to his performance on Tuesday, which was reminiscent of the first time Mighty Mikee ran in his debut last year, where he rebroke at the top of the stretch and romped away to win by 5½ lengths. He immediately turned heads and was thought to be something special.

Although his two stakes wins last year were in wire-to-wire fashion, he also showed he had some heart. After being put away in the $50,000 Osiris Stakes, he came back gamely between horses late to finish second, beaten by three-quarters of a length. His only losing race last year might have been his best performance of the season.

But none of the heart or speed witnessed last season was on display this year until he returned to his former home in the Gittens barn. While Gittens spends most of his time at Woodbine now, where he is sixth in the standings with 19 wins, his brother and assistant trainer Rheco runs the barn here and loves it. And that includes horses like Mighty Mikee.

“We eased him back with a series of works, capped by a five-eighths move about 10 days before the race, then gallops in between,” said Rheco. “We took our time with him… built him back up.”

“Florent did three sessions with him,” said Falloon. “This horse is really smart. He’s kind of a quirky bugger, but he’s nice to be with. He’ll never want to hurt you. He’s got some serious talent when he’s on his game. He ran the mile in 1:38 and change, faster than the Manitoba Derby, despite not having raced in two months. I was amazed he had that much gas in him.”

“I was surprised,” said Champion. “I thought any minute they were going to come and pass him. I wasn’t expecting him to be able to go over a mile like that.”

Champion, 86, has owned horses for over 40 years at Assiniboia Downs, and she doesn’t do it just for the horses.

“I like the people,” she said, adding that she always has partners on her horses to reduce expenses. She also said that like Falloon, they run their horse operation like a business but they always try to find good homes for their horses when they are finished racing.

“And I always buy Manitoba horses,” said Champion, who bought Mighty Mikee out of the 2024 Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale for $32,000. “I just never seemed to do any good with horses from the Kentucky sales.”

Falloon says Mighty Mikee has been nominated for the Gold Cup on Sept. 16, although they’re not sure if they’re going to run. It would be a huge step up in class off his last win, and he would have to face the best older horses on the grounds, along with some possible shippers. It’s a tough decision to make.

“If there was an allowance race, that would be nice,” mused Falloon.

We went down to the barn to visit Mikee on Friday morning, just to see how he was settling back into his old-new digs in the Gittens barn. He was cuddling up with assistant trainer Rheco Gittens.

“He’s used to getting a lot of carrots and a lot of loving here,” said Rheco.