by Brandon Valvo, for the SOA of NY

Yonkers, NY — Ideal Jimmy will continue his comeback in the $35,000 4-year-old Open Pace at Yonkers Raceway Saturday night (Aug. 5). After making his return to the Hilltop Oval in the same class July 29, trainer Erv Miller thinks the gelded son of Western Ideal will be competitive in this week’s race.

Chris Gooden photo

Ideal Jimmy, shown here winning the PASS final at age two, was seventh after his return from an extended break on July 29 at Yonkers Raceway.

“He had a first start last week. Hopefully he’ll be in a little better shape and ready to go than he was last week, but normally I find at Yonkers it takes them a start or two before they’re really to go,” he said. “It depends on the horse and what he’s done in qualifiers. Normally we’re a little more conservative than we are aggressive the first start or two off the break.”

Ideal Jimmy finished seventh in his return, which was his first start since winning a non-winners of eight at Yonkers Dec. 5, 2016. He was beaten just 2-1/2 lengths after racing along the pylons and closing with a :28.1 final quarter.

“I thought he raced really good. He just ended up coming up the inside and he wasn’t going to go anywhere because he didn’t get into the race early enough, but first start around there, I thought that was a good starting point,” Miller commented.

Ideal Jimmy’s extended break from racing gave the small son of Western Ideal a chance to develop. Miller and owner D. R. Can Witzenburg plotted Ideal Jimmy’s 4-year-old campaign to serve as a transition to bigger targets next year.

“We discussed this horse’s future last year to maybe not race him as a 4-year-old this year. I think sometime in March we brought him in,” Miller remembered. “He went through the non-winners of eight and he didn’t fit any more conditions, so we just gave him time to grow up and mature. He’s filled out, grown up. We don’t think he’ll quite compete against the open horses as a 4-year-old, but hopefully as a 5-year-old going forward he will. We’ll see how good he gets and hopefully be in the Levy next year.”

Van Witzeburg is a longtime supporter of Miller and has the patience to give his horses time when needed. That makes Miller’s job easier.

“I’ve trained for him a long time. He’s a really nice guy. He’s got great patience with horses and he understands the game. He knows they’re not robots and they don’t go when you say, ‘go,’ they go when they’re ready,” Miller said. “He’s been very patient that way with his horses. It’s really nice to have it that way and have it when they understand the horses a little bit.”

Ideal Jimmy was a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion at two. He’s 8-for-32 lifetime with another 10 seconds and thirds. He’s earned $443,722 and took a mark of 1:51.0 at The Meadows as a freshman.

“He’s just been a really easy horse to get along with all along. He was a really nice 2-year-old. Not very big, just a small horse, which normally doesn’t work for Pa. because you have to race against the Somebeaches and stuff, but he’s always put his best foot forward and put out a good effort, so we just kept riding with him. He never did take a lot of work or anything. He was always a pretty easy horse to get along with,” Miller described.

Ideal Jimmy will start from post position two in Saturday’s 4-year-old Open, just to the inside of morning line favorite Western Fame. The eight-horse field also includes 19-time winner St Lads Moonwalk and 10-time winner Blaise MM Hanover.

“This week is a little tougher than last week with Western Fame in there,” Miller said. “I think Ideal Jimmy will be quite a bit better than last week just getting a race under his belt. He could be getting a little involved this week and be there at the finish. It helps to have the two-hole.

“I think it’s great with New York having the opportunities they do on a small track. I think a half-mile track should suit him pretty good,” the trainer continued. “He’ll get some races against 4-year-olds there instead of having to race against older horses. Hopefully he’ll monopolize off of that and have a good last half of the year.”