Private Zone has Met Mile as long-range goal

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Private Zone will be in a New York state of mind – and being – in 2015.

Private Zone, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile, will be based in New York next year, with one of his major goals being the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June, according to Rene Douglas, the former jockey who manages the horse for Good Friends Stable.

Douglas said Private Zone would get a month’s vacation at GoldMark Farm in Ocala, Fla., before gearing up for a 2015 campaign that could start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap or the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct on April 7.

“My main goal is the Met Mile,” Douglas said by phone from Florida. “Between now and then we’ll see what happens.”

It makes perfect sense for Private Zone to be based in New York since his three biggest wins have all come here. He has won the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park in consecutive years before the Cigar Mile score. Last year, he finished second in the Cigar Mile.

Since Douglas purchased him privately from Panama, Private Zone has been based mostly in Southern California with Doug O’Neill. This fall, he was with Alfredo Velazquez at Parx, where he made his 2014 debut in the Turf Monster.

Douglas said he did not know who would train Private Zone in New York but said he would talk with Velazquez about his options.

“I’ll give Freddy his options, but Freddy’s got his barn in Philadelphia. That’s where he wants to be,” Douglas said. “He did a great job. So did Doug O’Neill. But I need a different plan with this horse. The money’s in New York, too. I don’t want to be shipping him back and forth every time like I used to do.”

In addition to keeping Private Zone in New York next year, Douglas said he would like to try to stretch out the horse in distance after the Met Mile.

“I want to go slowly,” Douglas said. “Right now, we’ll leave him at a mile and see what happens. After the Met Mile, I want to go longer, two turns. If things go right, I think this horse can compete with anybody.”

In the Cigar Mile, Private Zone used his rail post and his speed to his advantage, striking the front soon after the start and speeding away to a five-length victory. He ran a mile in 1:34.39 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 110.

“I know the track was [speed-favoring] and everything, but what he did yesterday was amazing,” Douglas said. “He just played with them.”

Secret Circle, the Cigar Mile runner-up, came out of his race in good order despite stumbling at the break. Trainer Bob Baffert said Secret Circle would be flown back to his Southern California barn Dec. 9 and most likely will run again next year.

“He might be a candidate for Dubai,” Baffert said.