Maximum Security's slow breeze keeps him on path to Cigar Mile

Maximum Security went through a standard Jason Servis workout Wednesday at Belmont Park, officially going a half-mile in 52.01 seconds.

By now, Servis’s idiosyncratic workout regimens have become well known. He breezes his horses slower and less frequently than nearly any trainer in North America. Wednesday’s drill, Maximum Security’s first since Nov. 10, fit right into the mold. Servis called the exercise an “open gallop” and said he timed Maximum Security going one mile in 1:57 and change and 1 1/8 miles in 2:10 and change.

“That’s pretty standard for me,” he said. “Even my grass sprinters, I do it the same way. It keeps them sounder and less dehydrated.”

Maximum Security remains on track to start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 7. In his most recent race, the Bold Ruler on Oct. 26 at Belmont, he faced older horses for the first time and beat them while conceding weight and breaking from tricky post 1. It was Maximum Security’s first start since he won the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes on July 20, and Maximum Security had gone through some physical issues during his time away from the races.

“I think his last race helped him,” Servis said. “I wasn’t expecting it, coming off a long layoff, and I didn’t really think he was doing super. When he ran like that, I was kind of taken with it.”

Servis said Maximum Security will have one more timed workout before the Cigar, probably five or six days out from the race.

Maximum Security has Grade 1 wins in the Florida Derby and the Haskell atop his résumé this year in addition to the controversial Kentucky Derby, where he was disqualified from first to 17th for interference. Regardless of how he performs in the Cigar Mile, he remains in the conversation for an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old of 2019, and a victory in that race could push his championship credentials over the top. Maximum Security’s only loss out on the track this year came when he finished second as the overwhelming favorite in his Haskell prep, the Pegasus Stakes.

“I know I’m biased, and ‘if’ is a big word, but if he doesn’t stumble at the start of the Pegasus, I think he wins that, and if he’s not disqualified in the Derby, he’s 7 for 7 this year,” Servis said.

◗ It’s not as if the Friday card at Aqueduct is bad, but the program lacks anything resembling an actual featured race.

Race 6, an 11-furlong turf maiden special weight, has entrants that are at least mildly promising. Chief among that group is Stare Decisis, a 3-year-old Noble Mission gelding trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables. Stare Decisis debuted Oct. 26, fell too far behind the early leaders, and made a sustained bid to finish a close fourth going nine furlongs. The added distance, a race worth of experience, and a three-pound weight break from his older rivals could get him home. First post Friday is 12:50 Eastern.

◗ Three Technique lived up to his 1-9 favoritism winning race 3 on Wednesday at Aqueduct and surely is bound for stakes racing after a geared-down 4 ½-length victory in a first-level allowance for 2-year-olds also open to $80,000 claimers. Jeremiah Englehart trains Three Technique, a Mr. Speaker colt who faced strong maiden competition over the summer, graduated in style, and was much the best while racing from the back of a short field Wednesday over a slow-playing dirt track. Three Technique ran seven furlongs in 1:25.65.