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Gary Johnson / Eclipse Sportswire

Cyclone State will journey halfway around the world in an ambitious bid to reach Kentucky Derby 2025.

Trainer Chad Summers said his winner of three consecutive starts will target the Group 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 22 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack and the $1 million UAE Derby (G2) on April 5 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai for his next two starts.

“With his running style and his physical and mental makeup, I thought he was tailor-made for this program,” Summers told Horse Racing Nation.

The Iowa-bred son of McKinzie will bring ample seasoning with seven starts. His three victories have come at the Saudi Derby’s one-mile distance, including a 3 1/2-length score in the listed Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4 at Aqueduct in his lone sophomore start. The Jerome provided the speedster with 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, ranking him 21st on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

The Saudi Derby will be contested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cyclone State then would be asked to step up to the UAE Derby’s 1 3/16-mile distance. The Saudi Derby does not award Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The UAE Derby affords the top five finishers points on a 100-50-20-10-5 scale. A top two finish likely would be necessary to ensure a place in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field on the first Saturday in May.

The Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct, the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park and the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs also had been considered by Summers and an ownership group composed of majority owner Al Gold of Gold Square, George Messina and Michael Lee.

“Obviously, these are all great races and they are the logical next steps,” the trainer said. “But we’ve never really done anything by the book. A lot of ways we’ve done things and had success is based on our gut and our feel and, obviously, I have a large gut. My gut just kept telling me to go down this road.”

Summers earned his greatest triumph when Mind Your Biscuits, a New York-bred, ran some of the world’s best sprinters off their feet in the 2018 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1).

He hopes to follow the same path Forever Young took to last year’s bang-up third-place Derby finish. The star from Japan swept the Saudi Derby and the UAE Derby before narrowly missing the roses in a three-horse photo finish that was a matter of a couple of noses.

Skeptics will note that Cyclone State, an April 29 foal, has yet to be tested against graded-stakes company. His streak consists of a maiden victory Nov. 3 at Belmont at the Big A and an optional-claiming allowance win at Aqueduct ahead of the Jerome. Twenty-year-old Luis Rivera Jr., aboard throughout that stretch, retains the mount.

Summers believes the horse has earned the opportunity. “Obviously, he had to take steps to move forward and improve. In every one of his last three starts, he’s done exactly that,” he said.

Cyclone State was shipped to Palm Meadows Training Center after the Jerome. Although his abundant early speed should be an asset in the desert, he is being taught to sit off horses to enhance his versatility. He turned in a bullet five-furlong work of 1:00.25 Jan. 31 at Palm Meadows, fastest of seven at the distance.

He is due to leave from Miami on Feb. 11 for the 14-hour flight to Saudi Arabia. His return to the U.S. from Dubai is scheduled for April 10, the same date Forever Young used last year for his Kentucky Derby itinerary.

Gold has traveled the Derby road before, having campaigned Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife three years ago. In addition to Cyclone State, he has sole ownership of a second Derby prospect, Filoso.

The City of Light colt has been a bit of a puzzle. He followed a solid third-place effort behind East Avenue and Ferocious in the Oct. 5 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland to be sixth in the Nov. 30 Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs. He was freshened after that.

Filoso likely will make his 3-year-old debut in the March 1 Fountain of Youth.

“He’s a horse that’s supposed to get better as he gets older. As the distances get farther, he’s supposed to get better,” Summers said, clinging to hope as all trainers do.