Maximum Security confirmed for Cigar Mile

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maximum Security, the multiple Grade 1 winner who was disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby in May, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, trainer Jason Servis said Sunday.

The decision to run in the Cigar Mile instead of the Grade 1, $600,000 Clark at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29, was made after Maximum Security trained extremely well over Aqueduct’s main track on Sunday morning. After vanning from Belmont to Aqueduct, Maximum Security galloped 1 1/8 miles in 2:11.75 over the main track, getting his last three furlongs of that move in 40.80 seconds.

Exercise rider Jose Biallatoro said Maximum Security “breezed better than at Belmont. He did a really good job today. He wasn’t even breathing [heavy].”

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Servis said he was surprised to hear Biallatoro be so effusive in his praise of how well Maximum Security handled Aqueduct’s main track and relayed that information to owner Gary West.

“I was thinking he’d just say he went good,” Servis said. “But he said ‘Man, Jay, he’s better on this track than he was at Belmont.’ ”

The decision to van to Aqueduct Sunday morning was a last-minute decision, according to Servis, who had consulted with West. Maximum Security, who has been based at Belmont since mid-October, vanned the eight miles to Aqueduct, arriving before 7:30 a.m.

Maximum Security went to the track following the 8:45 renovation break. Accompanied by a pony, he backed up to the wire before turning around and getting into his gallop at the mile pole. Maximum Security went quicker than Biallatoro was expecting at the beginning, so he took a little hold before letting him finish up.

Maximum Security cooled out at Aqueduct before being loaded back on the van to return to Belmont. Servis said he is not sure if he will send Maximum Security back to Aqueduct for another training session or let him do the rest of his training at Belmont.

A victory in either the Cigar Mile or Clark would give Maximum Security a third Grade 1 victory and keep him in the conversation for champion 3-year-old male along with Code of Honor, who has two Grade 1 victories but who finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Maximum Security beat Code of Honor in the Grade 1 Florida Derby and though he finished first in the Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security was disqualified to 17th for alleged interference, while Code of Honor was elevated from third to second in the Derby.

Maximum Security came off a 98-day layoff to win the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at Belmont Park on Oct. 26. He had not run since winning the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth on July 20. In between, he was scratched from the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby after developing a severe bout of colic that landed him in an equine clinic for one day.

Maximum Security has five wins from seven starts this year and is 6 for 8 overall.