Maximum Security can strengthen Eclipse Award chances in Cigar Mile
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gary West doesn’t remember the last time he was at Aqueduct, though he knows it was before the casino adjacent to the track opened in the fall of 2011.
When told that the casino is always hopping, West said, “I hope the racetrack is hopping as much as the casino.”
If it is, it will be in large part be due to the presence of Maximum Security, the Gary and Mary West-owned 3-year-old who heads an 11-horse field entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile. Maximum Security has been one of the most popular horses in training this year as well as being the center of a controversial disqualification from first in the Kentucky Derby.
West said he thinks about the Kentucky Derby disqualification daily and continues his longshot legal efforts to try and reverse the decision. On Nov. 15, a federal judge in Kentucky dismissed West’s lawsuit to appeal the stewards’ ruling on the grounds that Kentucky regulations clearly state that a disqualification by the stewards is not subject to judicial review.
www.drf.com/race-results/tracks/AQU/country/USA/date/12-07-2019
West has appealed that ruling.
:: Cigar Mile 2019: Get PPs, products, and news
“The stewards can literally do anything they want and that’s never, ever going to change the outcome of the race,” West said. “When billions of dollars are changing hands over the course of the racing season and a couple of hundred million dollars changed hands in the Kentucky Derby alone, there are three people that are truly omnipotent, they have no oversight whatsoever, no appeal mechanism whatsoever. That just doesn’t seem right to me.”
While the Wests will have to wait for a judge’s ruling on their appeal, there is another battle that they – more specifically Maximum Security – are engaged in. That’s the battle for the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male.
Maximum Security will try to add the Cigar Mile to a résumé that includes Grade 1 victories in the Florida Derby and Haskell Invitational as well as the Grade 3 Bold Ruler against older horses. Code of Honor has won the Grade 1 Travers and was placed first in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup after Vino Rosso was disqualified for interfering with him. Vino Rosso won the Breeders’ Cup Classic while Code of Honor finished seventh.
Maximum Security, who beat Code of Honor in the Florida and Derby and finished ahead of him in the Kentucky Derby, missed the Breeders’ Cup primarily due to the fact he was sidelined in early September with a severe case of colic.
While West sees the Cigar Mile as an important race for year-end honors, he doesn’t see it as a must-win for Maximum Security.
“I’m not smart enough to know why voters vote the way they do, and that’s not a bad comment,” West said. “Everything in the racing world is based on opinions, not really facts. I don’t know how the voters are going to think about things. I will say this, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, I think he’ll have a better chance of winning the Eclipse if he runs a big race than if he doesn’t.”
Maximum Security drew post 5 and will be the 122-pound starting highweight under Luis Saez in the Cigar Mile. His main competition includes fellow 3-year-old Spun to Run, another fast horse, who comes off a sparkling victory in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Spun to Run, in at 120 pounds, will break from post 6. Whitmore, a Grade 1 winner last year, is the most accomplished older horse in the field.
From the rail out, the Cigar Mile field is Whitmore, Bal Harbour, Forewarned, Pat On the Back, Maximum Security, Spun to Run, Nicodemus, Network Effect, Looking At Bikinis, Tale of Silence, and True Timber.
The Cigar Mile will go as the last of 10 races on Saturday’s card, which begins at 11:30 a.m. and includes five other stakes. It is also the last leg of the Empire 6 on what is a mandatory payout of the 20-cent wager. Entering Thursday’s card, the Empire 6 jackpot was $520,913.
Also scheduled for Saturday:
◗ Cleon Jones, winner of the Bertram F. Bongard for New York breds, is the only stakes winner among nine 2-year-olds entered in the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen Stakes. Cleon Jones, trained by Jeremiah Englehart, drew post 3 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.
The others entered were Ajaaweed, Alpha Sixty Six, Amends, Chase Tracker, Forza Di Oro, Informative, Prince James, and Shotski.
◗ Maedean, the dominant winner of the Tempted Stakes here on Nov. 1, drew post 2 and heads a field of 12 juvenile fillies entered for the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle at 1 1/8 miles.
Alandra, third behind British Idiom in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland, and Lake Avenue, a 12 3/4-length maiden winner going seven furlongs here on Nov. 14, are among the top challengers. Alandra drew post 5 while Lake Avenue is marooned in post 12.
The others entered are Blame Debbie, Critical Value, Daphne Moon, Fiftyshaysofgreen, Glass Ceiling, I Dare U, Jara, Miss Marissa, and Water White.
◗ Spiced Perfection, a two-time Grade 1 winner at seven furlongs, will stretch out to a one-turn mile as the probable heavy favorite in the Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand. Spiced Perfection will break from post 3 and carry 124 pounds as the highweight in a field that includes Another Broad (118), Saguaro Row (118), Our Super Nova (117), Needs Supervision (116), and Espresso Shot (114).
◗ The $150,000 Winter Memories and the $125,000 Autumn Days, both turf stakes rescheduled from prior cancellations, have been carded for Saturday.
◗ The NYRA announced Tuesday that the 40-day Saratoga meet will be run from July 16 through Sept. 7. Saratoga will maintain the same five-day race week, Wednesdays through Sundays, for the majority of the meet with the exception of opening and closing weeks when there will be four and six days of racing, respectively.
