Jumping the Gun could give Simoff first graded win * The Racing Biz

Jumping the Gun could give Simoff first graded win

Press Release
December 5, 2025

Delaware Park-based conditioner Andy Simoff has been training thoroughbreds since 1987, and has won over 360 races while finding stakes success with horses like Howgreatisnate, Alta Velocita and Jumping the Gun. On Saturday, the latter will look to provide her conditioner with his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, a nine-furlong test for juvenile fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

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“She’s doing really well, and everything has gone perfect,” Simoff said. “She hasn’t missed a work and the track’s been good at Delaware, so that’s a plus. She’s training good, eating good, looks and feels good, so we’re excited. I went to Aqueduct when I was eight or nine with my father and the first time I went, I was hooked on racing. It’s kind of a full-circle moment and it would be unbelievable to win a race like that.”

*Jumping the Gun was much the best in the Blue Hen Stakes at Delaware Park. Photo by The Racing Biz.*

A Kentucky homebred for John Guarnere’s Imaginary Stables, the dual stakes-winning daughter of Gun Runner was a perfect 3-for-3 to begin her career, taking a 5 1/2-furlong maiden by 1 1/2 lengths on debut before stretching out to six furlongs for a pair of stakes wins this summer at the Wilmington oval. She pounced from fifth-of-6 to post a strong 4 1/4-length victory in the Blue Hen in August and raced more prominently to capture the restricted Small Wonder by 3 3/4 lengths in September.

“She’s really been amazing with no hiccups along the way, which is really difficult to do,” Simoff said. “Good shins, has trained forwardly, good in the gate – she does everything right. We liked her the first time out and she ran like we thought she would. The next two times, she won pretty easy. She’s a real kind horse and will do whatever you want – sit, go to the front, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Last out, the 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 October 11. There, she emerged from the outermost post 9 and stalked in third under regular rider Julio Hernandez before dueling for the lead at the three-quarters call. She battled gamely with Dazzling Dame down the lane but was bested as her foe edged clear in the final sixteenth.

“She drew the outside and got caught in a wide trip, but she still ran well,” Simoff said. “At the head of the lane, it looked like she was going to go by that horse, but she maybe got a little tired the last sixteenth. Her Ragozin number was higher than the winner, so that was encouraging. This race is obviously going to be a test for her, but it’s time to find out what she’s all about. The field looks tough, but not impossible.”

Jumping the Gun is out of the stakes-winning Quality Road mare Breaking Bread, and she hails from the family of dual graded stakes-winner Pacific Gale. Simoff said the filly carries herself well and is a standout among her peers.

“I know when they’re in the paddock and people get to see her, she’ll be as good-looking as any horse there,” Simoff said. “I would get nervous in the other stakes and then when I’d get to the paddock, I’d be so confident. Saturday is probably going to be a little different because there will be horses that look as good as her, but probably none will look better.”

Hernandez returns to the irons from the inside post in the field of six with a morning line assessment of 6-1.

The Demoiselle [Race 3] awards the top-five finishers with 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and is one of six stakes races on Saturday’s 11-race card, which is headlined 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-sired juveniles in the Great White Way [Race 11] and Fifth Avenue for fillies [Race 8]. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.