Cigar Mile has Breeders' Cup feel

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The decision by the New York Racing Association to move the Cigar Mile back a week on the calendar seemed to pay dividends as four of the 10 horses entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 1 stakes are coming out of a race run on Breeders’ Cup weekend.

Traditionally run the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Cigar Mile was pushed back a week to give horses who participated in the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar four weeks to run back. Sharp Azteca and Practical Joke, likely the top two choices in the $750,000 Cigar Mile, ran second and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3, while Mind Your Biscuits ran third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 4.

Americanize won the Damascus Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 3 and brings some California speed and a two-race winning streak into the Cigar Mile.

Trainer Chad Summers said he wouldn’t be running Mind Your Biscuits if the race was held a week ago. “Just too tough, especially with the Breeders’ Cup being held in California,” he said.

Mind Your Biscuits blew out a quarter-mile in 24 seconds and galloped out three furlongs in 36.20 seconds Wednesday morning at Aqueduct, where he was sent by Summers this week.

Mind Your Biscuits drew the rail for the Cigar Mile, which will go as the final race of 10 scheduled for Saturday on a card that begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

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For Practical Joke, the Cigar Mile will be the final start of his career. Trainer Chad Brown said he always had the race in the back of his mind provided the horse came out of the Breeders’ Cup in good order. Noting that Practical Joke is 5 for 5 in one-turn-mile races, Brown said the Cigar Mile “is the perfect race for him.”

Sharp Azteca, who won the Kelso Handicap going a mile at Belmont Park in October, arrived here from south Florida on Tuesday. Sharp Azteca, who drew post 6, is the 125-pound highweight and will concede three to nine pounds to his nine rivals.

The field for the Cigar Mile, from the rail out: Mind Your Biscuits, Seymourdini, Just Call Kenny, Tom’s Ready, Americanize, Sharp Azteca, Vulcan’s Forge, Practical Joke, Summer Revolution, and Beasley.

Neolithic and Tale of S’avall were not entered. Neolithic will be pointed to the Grade 3, $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 16. Tale of S’avall sustained a significant gash in a knee after getting loose during training hours last week.

Another horse from Breeders’ Cup weekend who will be participating on Saturday is Highway Star, who will seek to win her second straight running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand Handicap.

Highway Star finished 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 after chasing a hot early pace. Trainer Rodrigo Ubillo wavered on whether to run Highway Star in the Go for Wand, but ultimately decided to enter.

Ubillo hopes to erase the bad memory of the Breeders’ Cup, where he felt jockey Angel Arroyo had Highway Star too close to a hot pace.

“It was an error in judgment being too forward, and we paid the price,” Ubillo said. “She’s not that type of sprinter.”

Arroyo will be back aboard Highway Star, the 123-pound highweight who drew post 2 in a field of seven. She will face a pair of Brown-trained runners, including Jamyson ‘n Ginger, who has gone 2 for 2 in one-turn-mile races since Brown got her.

Jamyson ‘n Ginger, who gets in with 116 pounds, drew the rail. Outside of Highway Star, in post-position order, are Going for Broke, Lucy N Ethel, Verve’s Tale, Flora Dora, and Indulgent.