Aqueduct: Flat Out likely to be retired after Cigar Mile win

Bill Mott was still accepting congratulations Sunday morning at Belmont Park for Flat Out’s victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

When it comes to Flat Out, it might be the last time the Hall of Fame trainer gets to take kudos for a job well done. While nothing has been finalized, Mott seemed resigned to the fact that Flat Out soon will be headed to a farm somewhere to begin his second career as a stallion.

“Just what he did yesterday probably picks up the tempo of any offers that might have been out there,” Mott said. “It’s like winning the Met Mile.”

Earlier in the week, the connections of Flat Out – owner Art Preston and his racing manager, Rick Decker – indicated that offers were being considered but no deals had gotten done. With Flat Out about to turn 8 years old, Preston said after the race that he was leaning toward retiring him.

“You’d like to run him forever, but we have to be realistic about him; he’s 7 years old,” Preston said.

If he is retired, Flat Out, a son Flatter, will go to stud with an outstanding résumé. In addition to the Cigar Mile, he is a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles and won the Grade 2 Suburban and Grade 3 Westchester. He’s won 9 of 29 starts and earned $3,645,383.

“He may not have received all the credit he deserves,” said Mott, who has trained Flat Out for his past 13 starts, taking over for Scooter Dickey.

Flat Out received a 110 Beyer Speed Figure for his Cigar Mile win, the 14th triple-digit Beyer in his career.

While Flat Out was staying put in New York for now, Cigar Mile runner-up Private Zone was on a flight Sunday morning headed back to Southern California, where he will begin preparation for a 5-year-old campaign. Private Zone tried to steal the Cigar Mile on the front end, setting all the fractions before giving way to Flat Out. Private Zone finished two lengths clear of third-place finisher Verrazano.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said Private Zone could be put on the same early-season schedule in 2014 that he was on in 2013, meaning the Grade 2 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita (Feb. 2), followed by the Dubai Golden Shaheen (March 29).

This year, Private Zone finished second in the Palos Verdes and ninth in the Golden Shaheen, beaten 4 3/4 lengths in the latter.

“I think we were still figuring him out; he was still in the maturing stage,” O’Neill said. “He’s a veteran, seasoned, more mature son of a gun. You’d see a better effort this go-round. We can make up those 4 3/4 lengths.”

O’Neill said he wasn’t sure what the plans would be for Goldencents, whose seventh-place finish as the 3-1 favorite in the Cigar Mile

“was a head-scratcher,” he said. “I would imagine we’ll give him a little breather before his next start.”

Verrazano, the multiple Grade 1-winning 3-year-old, was expected to be retired and ship to Ashford Stud in Kentucky after his third in the Cigar Mile. However, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning he had not heard from any of the connections and said there was “a slim” chance that Verrazano could run again.

“I don’t think it’s completely out of the question,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher said his other two Cigar Mile starters, Forty Tales (sixth) and Capo Bastone (last), were to be sent to Ocala, Fla., for a freshening before returning for their 4-year-old campaigns.

Groupie Doll, the two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, is not done racing yet. She finished a troubled fourth in the Cigar Mile, beaten 3 1/2 lengths. She had to check and alter course under Rajiv Maragh approaching the stretch as she was behind Clearly Now, who had clipped heels with Private Zone and stumbled at the quarter pole.

Trainer Buff Bradley said Groupie Doll came out of the incident unscathed. He said Mandy Pope, who purchased Groupie Doll for $3.1 million at the Keeneland November sale four weeks ago, wants to run her again.

“Mandy doesn’t want it to end on a note like that,” Bradley said. “She wants her to go out a winner. We all felt after watching the replay that she had a good shot of winning the race at the top of the stretch.”

Bradley said Groupie Doll is “still at the top of her game right now,” and while she will be bred in 2014, there is time to run her one more time. One possible spot could be the Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Monica, a seven-furlong race at Santa Anita on Jan. 25.

Groupie Doll shipped from New York to Timber Town Stable, a farm in Lexington, Ky., where she will spend a week while Bradley and Pope map out a plan.