No Nay Mets further stamped himself as a 2-year-old turf sprinter with Breeders' Cup potential, returning from a disappointing showing at Royal Ascot by easily putting away 11 rivals as he cruised to a 5½-length victory in the $112,000 Tyro Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.
Owned in part by Houston Astros' All-Star Alex Bregman, along with WEBD LLC, the son of No Nay Never became a two-time stakes winner in just his third career start.
He won the Royal Palm Juvenile at five furlongs on the turf at Gulfstream Park in his career debut on May 13, earning a spot in the Norfolk Stakes (G2) during the prestigious Royal Ascot meet.
The bounce-back from that ninth-place showing in England 38 days later was eye-catching.
“He impressed me today. I thought he won the right way,” said trainer George Weaver. “I can't be any happier with the horse. We went back to the tactics that were successful at Gulfstream. (Jockey) Paco (Lopez) asked him to run away from there. He had enough speed to make the lead and then on the turn he spurted for home and opened up.
“We're going to try to put him on a path to get to the Breeders' Cup.”
Lopez made the lead without much pressure, cruising to a :22.49 opening quarter and :46.15 first half as No Nay Mets seemed to get stronger in the lane.
The final time for the five furlongs over a firm turf course was :57.91.
“It's really hard to decipher when you're handicapping a race,” said Weaver. “It was a full field today with a bunch of horses that showed good early gas. You never know where you stand.
“Our horse definitely had some seasoning. He never ran in a maiden race, he broke his maiden in a stakes and then he went across the pond to run against a huge field at Ascot against some very good horses over ground he wasn't crazy about. He had an experience edge. It didn't take him long to get back on track.
The victory gave Weaver a sweep of the weekend 2-year-old turf sprints at Monmouth Park, with Amidst Waves winning Saturday's Colleen Stakes.
Ship Cadet rallied for second, two lengths ahead of Shea D World.
“The plan was just to go and to see if they could catch me,” said Lopez. “George Weaver told me `your horse is very fast. They have to catch you.' She broke sharp and then it seemed like she was waiting on horses a little. I went a pretty easy pace once she made an easy lead. The horse was very comfortable the whole time.
“This horse has a lot of potential. I can see this horse winning a graded stakes race soon.”
No Nay Mets was bred in Ireland by Coolmore. His dam is the War Front mare Etoile, Group 3 winner in Ireland and in France, where she was fourth in the 2019 Prix de Diane (G1) (French Oaks). Shipped to the U.S., she was 10th in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Santa Anita.
No Nay Mets paid $3.80 to win as the 9-10 favorite,
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