New York-bred king Mr. Buff may give Cigar Mile a try

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The more he watches his horse train and the more he hears about the composition of the field, the more trainer John Kimmel is considering running Mr. Buff in the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct.

Though Mr. Buff has dominated New York-breds for the better part of two years, he has disappointed when it’s come to running in graded stakes. Since March 2019, he is winless and for the most part non-competitive in five graded stakes.

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However, he has never competed in a graded stakes at Aqueduct, where he has a record of 8-3-0 from 13 starts.

The last time Mr. Buff ran in a one-mile race at Aqueduct, he won the Haynesfield Stakes for New York-breds by 20 lengths. He earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 106 for that race. Mr. Buff is coming off a 3 1/4-length victory in the Empire Classic, a one-turn 1 1/8-mile race Oct. 24 at Belmont.

“I’m definitely looking at it,” Kimmel said Friday. “His last race at Aqueduct was a very good race. He’s really, really good now. If it looks deep, the backup plan is real easy.”

The backup plan would be the Alex M. Robb for New York-breds on Dec. 12.

Nominations were set to close over the weekend, but as of Friday those under consideration for the Cigar Mile were Firenze Fire, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint; Performer, last year’s Grade 3 Discovery winner; King Guillermo, this year’s Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby winner; Majestic Dunhill, the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap winner; True Timber, third in last year’s Cigar Mile; and Bon Raison.