Brown hopes Zandon will repeat history in Cigar Mile

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following Zandon’s second-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24, trainer Chad Brown’s initial instinct was to put the Grade 1-winning 3-year-old away for the season and point to a 4-year-old campaign.

But after watching the horse train for a week or so after that race and recalling previous success he had turning the 3-year-old Connect back in distance six years ago, Brown discussed the idea of running in the Cigar Mile with owner Jeff Drown.

“He liked the idea so we went with it,” Brown said.

Now, Brown is eager to see what Zandon does on the turnback when he heads a six-horse field set to run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. The Cigar drew seven entrants, but O Besos will have to scratch. He was stabled at Churchill Downs, where five horses in a barn where O Besos was not stabled tested positive for equine herpesvirus. The New York Racing Association, like most tracks, is not accepting shippers from Churchill for the foreseeable future.

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The six horses remaining in the Cigar Mile include Grade 1 winners Mind Control, Get Her Number, and White Abarrio as well as Grade 2 Kelso winner Double Crown and his longshot stablemate Outlier.

In 2016, the Brown-trained Connect won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby then turned back in distance to win the Cigar Mile. Zandon a son of Upstart, has been successful at 1 1/8 miles, winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland in April and running second in both the Remsen here last year and the Jim Dandy in July at Saratoga. In the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, Zandon was simply second-best to Taiba.

“I thought he ran extremely well,” Brown said. “There was nothing about the race I didn’t like. He got a good trip.”

Regarding the one-turn mile for Zandon, Brown said: “I don’t think it’ll be an issue. If anything, it might be what he’s looking for right about now.”

The Cigar Mile could be run over a wet track as rain is forecast to begin around 10 a.m. on Saturday. The Cigar Mile, race 9 on a 10-race card, is scheduled for 3:43 p.m.

“I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it, but any time you have a horse training super, breezing consistently on a dry track and breezing fabulous, you’d hate not to run on a dry track,” Brown said.

Joel Rosario has the mount on Zandon from post 2.

White Abarrio won the Grade 1 Florida Derby but has gone winless in four starts since. Like Zandon, White Abarrio is turning back in distance, having finished sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby. The first time trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. ran White Abarrio following a private purchase last year, the horse won a one-turn mile allowance by four lengths at Gulfstream Park.

“I thought that was a visually impressive race,” Joseph said. “It was a slow pace and he quickened so nicely. I feel the cutback is going to work to his advantage.”

Joseph expects White Abarrio to be forwardly placed breaking from post 3 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

Mind Control, a two-time Grade 1 winner, is also likely to be a forward factor. He finished second Sept. 24 in the Parx Dirt Mile, but was placed first after the stewards determined Far Mo Power, the first-place finisher, had interfered with him. Trainer Todd Pletcher and the owners of Mind Control felt the horse needed more time coming out of that race, so they canceled plans to run in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and focused on the Cigar Mile.

While Pletcher likes the way Mind Control is training up to this spot, his owners have told him the horse doesn’t like the mud.

“I guess that’ll be a race-day decision,” Pletcher said Thursday morning. “His last couple of races have been good. He’s always a good-training horse. Today, he was bouncing coming off the track, full of himself.”

John Velazquez has the ride from the outside post on Mind Control, the 122-pound highweight who is spotting two pounds to Zandon and four to White Abarrio.

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Get Her Number ships in from California for Peter Miller. Get Her Number, who won the Grade 1 American Pharoah as a 2-year-old in 2020, is coming off an allowance win at Del Mar going six furlongs.

Double Crown upset the Grade 2 Kelso here on Oct. 29 at odds of 42-1 for trainer Lynn Cash, who also sends out longshot Outlier.

The Cigar Mile is the last of four stakes on Saturday’s card. The stakes part of the program begins with the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies and is followed by the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen for 2-year-olds and the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand for fillies and mares.

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