Jumping the Gun could give Simoff his first victory
Press release- December 5, 2025
Delaware Park-based conditioner Andy Simoff has been training Thoroughbreds since 1987 and has won more than 360 races, finding success with horses such as Howgreatisnate, Alta Velocita and Jumping the Gun. On Saturday, the latter will attempt to provide her conditioner with his first stakes win in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, a nine-furlong test for young fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
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“She’s doing really well, and everything has gone perfectly,” Simoff said. “She hasn’t missed any work and the track is good in Delaware, so that’s a plus. She’s training well, eating well, looking good and feeling good, so we’re excited. I went to Aqueduct with my dad when I was eight or nine and the first time I went, I was hooked on racing. It’s kind of a full-circle moment and to win a race like that would be incredible.”
The daughter of Gun Runner, a Kentucky daughter home-bred for John Guarnere’s Imaginary Stables, was a perfect 3-for-3 to start her career. On her debut, she won a maiden from 5 1/2 furlong by 1 1/2 lengths before stretching to six furlongs for a pair of stakes victories this summer at the Wilmington oval. Jumping from fifth of 6, she recorded a strong 4 1/4 length win in the Blue Hen in August and raced more prominently to capture the limited Small Wonder by 3 3/4 lengths in September.
“She was really great, without any hiccups, which is very difficult to do,” Simoff said. “Good shins, forward trained, good in the gate – she does everything well. We liked her the first time and she ran as we thought she would. The next two times she won quite easily. She is a very friendly horse and will do what you want – sit, go forward, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”
Finally, Bay received a career-best 73 Beyer Speed Figure for a 1 1/2-length second to Dazzling Dame in the two-turn-mile White Clay Creek on Oct. 11. There she emerged from the outside pole 9 to take third under regular rider Julio Hernandez before battling for the lead at the three-quarter call. She fought bravely against Dazzling Dame further down the track, but was defeated when her foe went clear in the last sixteenth.
“She pulled the outside and got stuck in a long draft, but she still ran well,” Simoff said. “At the start of the track it looked like she was going to get past that horse, but maybe she got a little tired in the last sixteenth. Her Ragozin number was higher than the winner’s, so that was encouraging. This race will obviously be a test for her, but it’s time to find out what she stands for. The field looks tough, but not impossible.”
Jumping the Gun is out of the stakes-winning Quality Road mare Breaking Bread, and she is from the family of double stakes winner Pacific Gale. Simoff said the filly is well behaved and a standout among her peers.
“I know when they’re in the paddock and people see her, she’ll look as good as any other horse out there,” Simoff said. “I got nervous at the other stakes and when I got to the paddock I was so confident. Saturday will probably be a little different because there will be horses that look as good as them, but probably none will look better.”
Hernandez returns to the irons from the inside post in the field of six with a morning line rating of 6-1.
The lady [Race 3] awards the top five finishers with 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and is one of six races on Saturday’s 11-race card, highlighted by the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap in Race 10. The card also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen in Race 9, the Grade 3, $ 250,000 Elite Power in Race 5 and two $500,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series events at seven furlongs for eligible state boys in the Great White Way [Race 11] and Fifth Avenue for fillies [Race 8]. First message is 11:20 am Eastern.
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