Hay Jude's second foal was Little Mike, sired by Spanish Steps, an unraced son of Unbridled with a modest stud fee of $5,000.

[3] Now trained by Allen Iwinski, Little Mike won for the first time after being switched to the turf in a one-mile race at Monmouth Park, leading the field from start to finish.

[4] He then won three allowance races and finished second in the Monarch's Maze Stakes,[1] ending the year with a record of four wins from seven starts.

At odds of 12-1, he went to the early lead then battled down the stretch with Blues Street to win by a nose.

[5] He was then transferred to the stable of Dale Romans for the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on February 5, his first attempt at the Grade 1 level.

[7] Three weeks later in the 1-mile Canadian Turf Stakes, Little Mike again went to the early lead and set solid opening fractions.

"As long as he's happy and flipping his ears around, how fast he's going doesn't really matter," said jockey Joe Bravo.

[8] On April 3, Little Mike repeated his front-running tactics in the Appleton Stakes and won by 1+1⁄2 lengths, despite carrying the high-weight of 123 pounds.

"[9] Unfortunately, Little Mike then suffered a condylar fracture and missed the next eight months,[10] returning on December 22 to win an allowance race.

[11] He then tried to repeat his earlier win in the Canadian Stakes but faded late in the stretch to finish fourth.

He again set the early pace, then opened up a large lead turning into the stretch and won comfortably by 2+1⁄2 lengths.

I'm just a backyard kind of guy and we took a Florida-bred horse that was out of an Illinois-bred mare and we took on the Europeans in one of the biggest races in the world and we beat them"[3] Little Mike's next start was on September 29 in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at a distance of 1+1⁄2 miles on a yielding turf course at Belmont Park.

Little Mike's time was an exceptional 2:22.83, the fastest Breeders' Cup Turf ever and almost equal with the Santa Anita track record of 2:22 4⁄5.

He rated early, then moved to the lead around the far turn and withstood a late run to beat Big Blue Kitten by a nose.

"He came out of his race fine, but the last few days he just didn't seem to have the same energy level he has had when training these past weeks and months.