True Timber points to Pegasus Invitational as next start

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - True Timber, winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, will return as a 7-year-old with a projected seasonal debut coming in the Grade 1 Pegasus Invitational at Gulfstream on Jan. 23, with the year-end goal being a repeat bid in the Cigar Mile next December, trainer Jack Sisterson said Sunday.

True Timber won his first stakes in his 20th try and broke a 13-race losing streak overall with an authoritative 5 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Cigar Mile. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

“To win a Grade 1 means everything to me, and I can vouch for my staff, they put so much hard work and effort into each individual horse,” Sisterson said by phone from South Florida.

True Timber was looked after in New York by trainer Tom Morley. Sisterson said Morley told him True Timber came out of the Cigar Mile in good order. True Timber was due to fly to Keeneland on Monday and will then ship to the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida by the end of next week.

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Though True Timber ran well despite not winning in two previous runnings of the Cigar Mile, he has not run well in two tries in the Pegasus World Cup, a two-turn, 1 1/8-mile race. He finished eighth in 2020 and seventh in 2019. He is winless in eight tries around two turns.

“We haven’t ourselves run him around two turns and we haven’t trained him as a two-turn horse,” Sisterson said. “We’re going to change his training up a little bit to treat him like a two-turn horse and we got a bit of time to do that at Palm Meadows.”

Sisterson said he would put extended gallops in workouts for True Timber.

Sisterson said he thought True Timber was at an advantage being drawn toward the outside in the Cigar Mile and would like to see him draw outside in future races.

Sisterson said he hopes Kendrick Carmouche would be able to ride True Timber in the Pegasus. That could depend on the jockey protocols in place at Gulfstream Park.

“I don’t want to take any business away from Kendrick up in New York, but Kendrick will be given the first opportunity to ride him back,” Sisterson said. “He was a big factor in him winning yesterday.”

Snapper Sinclair, the Cigar Mile runner-up, will likely ship to trainer Steve Asmussen’s stable at Fair Grounds for a little freshening before embarking on a 6-year-old campaign in 2021, according to owner Jeffrey Bloom.

Snapper Sinclair has had success on turf and dirt and could start his season at Oaklawn Park, where he placed in three of four stakes there last winter.

“He’s run really well at Oaklawn, that will certainly be part of the races that are on his agenda,” Bloom said.

Snapper Sinclair finished a neck in front of 4-5 favorite Performer in the Cigar Mile. Performer got away slowly and was last early and came with a wide rally in the stretch.

Performer was scheduled to ship on Monday to Payson Park, where he will train toward a 5-year-old campaign, though trainer Shug McGaughey was noncommittal on where that would begin.