Locked rebounds with Cigar Mile victory

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The talent displayed by Locked at 2 had his connections dreaming of a lot of success on Saturdays throughout his 3-year-old season. Unfortunately, an injury that required plenty of time to heal limited Locked’s success to the first Saturday in December, when he rallied from midpack under John Velazquez to run down Mullikin and win the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile by 1 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct.

Mullikin finished second by one length over Post Time as the top three betting choices finished in order in a solid 36th renewal of the Cigar Mile.

Coastal Mission, the ultra-consistent West Virginia-bred, finished fourth and was followed in order by Book’em Danno, Pipeline, Repo Rocks, Nelson Avenue, Senor Buscador, who stumbled at the start, and Vinsanity. Law Professor scratched.

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While delighted with the victory, there couldn’t help be a sense of melancholy from the connections of Locked - a Grade 1 winner at 2 - for what could have been in 2024. It was a unique knee injury diagnosed in late February that caused the horse to be scratched from the March 3 Fountain of Youth and miss virtually his entire 3-year-old year.

“We’ve talked about that,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Locked for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm. “With the pace scenario in some of these big races - Triple Crown races and Breeders’ Cups - those races would have suited his running style really well.”

Locked had been entered in the Fountain of Youth, but was scratched the morning of the race after Pletcher was not happy with the way the horse was moving. Aron Wellman, of Eclipse, said it took a number of veterinarians to finally diagnose a ligament strain behind the left knee that was difficult to detect.

“I’d be lying to you if I said we weren’t devastated when we had to take him off the Derby trail this spring because we really, really believed he was a bona fide classic horse,” Wellman said. “That being said, looking back on the nature of his injury and the uniqueness of it, we feel really fortunate to be in this position to showcase him again.”

Locked won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at 2 and was third behind his stablemate Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The knee injury prevented him from running until Oct. 19, when he won an allowance race at Aqueduct by 7 1/2 lengths that set him up for the Cigar Mile.

On Saturday, under Velazquez, Locked settled into sixth position early but only 3 1/2 lengths off the pace established by Pipeline and pressed initially by Repo Rocks. Mullikin, after sitting a perfect third behind those, moved into second after a half-mile run in 45.30 seconds.

Mullikin, kept a bit wide by Prat, made the lead turning for home and looked like he was going to give Prat a record-breaking 56th graded stakes win of the year. But Locked was still loaded and ran by Mullikin inside the sixteenth pole to secure his fourth win from six career starts.

“I got busy on him when I saw [Flavien] Prat’s horse in front of me. I know he was quick, and I didn’t want him to open up too far and then I couldn’t catch up with him,” said Velazquez, who won his third straight Cigar Mile and fifth overall. “So I got him busy around the three-eighths pole and was right on top of him at the quarter-pole, and said, ‘Now I think I got him.’ ”

Locked, a son of Gun Runner, covered the mile in 1:34.52 and returned $6.30 as the favorite. Locked was given a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Locked, who became the 12th 3-year-old to win the Cigar Mile, gave Pletcher his record-extending seventh victory in this race. He could be a candidate for the $3 million Pegasus at Gulfstream on Jan. 25.

“Thought the fractions were okay, I was a little concerned at the five-eighths pole, he lost a little bit of position, but Johnny kind of roused him up and once he got some momentum you could see he was rolling,” Pletcher said. “It was just a matter of running down a really nice horse.”

Mullikin won the Grade 1 Forego in August and was coming off a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The Cigar was his first try at a mile and trainer Rodolphe Brisset was fine with the effort.

“He ran his race, perfect stalking position,” Brisset said.” I think I was not the only one turning for home who thought we were home free. We got run down by a very good horse, obviously. I think that was a good try. Flavien confirmed we could come back at a mile and we’d be fine.”

Post Time, coming off a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, came with his late run to be third. He did cock his head a bit in the stretch, which may have cost him some.

“He’s got a tendency to do that,” jockey Sheldon Russell said. “That’s probably why I get a lot of stick, I hold him in behind them. It’s when he sees daylight that he starts to play around.”

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