Weekend Warrior for Saturday, Dec. 2: Picks for Cigar Mile, Claiming Crown Jewel, Remsen Stakes

NEW YORK – Saturday finds an ending of sorts at Aqueduct, but a beginning at Gulfstream Park. New York’s last Grade 1 race until April – the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap – is the main event on a card at Aqueduct that also includes three other graded stakes. But it’s opening day of the Championship Meet at Gulfstream, where it’s also Claiming Crown Day, and where the fields are so big, you might need a forklift to carry around the past performances.

Cigar Mile Handicap

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Sharp Azteca. He’s an immensely talented miler, and I thought he ran a winning race in narrow defeat when second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile four weeks ago. Not only did Sharp Azteca battle gamely after setting strong fractions that left the other early pace-involved horses well up the track, but he did so while racing near the inside, which I believe was absolutely not the place to be on both Breeders’ Cup Friday and Saturday.

If anything, the cutback to a one-turn mile Saturday should be even more to Sharp Azteca’s favor, and he will take a lot of beating. But as much as I like and respect Sharp Azteca as a horse, and despite his excellent current form – he won the Kelso and Monmouth Cup two and three starts back in common gallops – I’m picking against him. The Dirt Mile, not this race, was Sharp Azteca’s real fall target. That’s a bit of a concern for me, though I know he can win even if this spot was an afterthought, and will certainly use him in multi-race wagers. But the overriding reason why I’m picking against Sharp Azteca is that I simply can’t resist Seymourdini.

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Seymourdini is another freakishly talented colt. He made jaws drop when he won the State Dinner Stakes at Belmont in July by 10 1/2 lengths with a 113 Beyer Figure, all after setting a wickedly fast early pace under pressure. The Cigar Mile has been Seymourdini’s goal from the time the State Dinner was made official, and he had his one prep for this with an effort in last month’s Bold Ruler that can best be described as intriguing.

Seymourdini was bumped around between horses a few strides out of the gate, which put him farther off the early pace than he is accustomed to, and which also seemed to put him out of sorts. He was last of nine turning for home and was close to being eased, only to eventually level off in the final furlong and finish full of run. Seymourdini wound up fourth, beaten less than two lengths, and galloped out well ahead of everyone. I expect Seymourdini to benefit considerably from that outing, and fire his best shot Saturday.

Claiming Crown Jewel

By now, every horseplayer with merely a passing acquaintance with Gulfstream knows that outside post positions in 1 1/8-mile main track races such as this event are a huge disadvantage because of a very short run to the first turn. These races frequently boil down to who can get good position on the first turn, and not get caught compromisingly wide. And I envision Chunnel capitalizing here on his cozy rail draw.

Chunnel has won three straight and four of five starts overall for his current trainer. And even if he lacks the stakes appearances shown by many of his Saturday opponents, his Beyers have improved to the point where he earned a career-best 90 in a romp most recently at Parx that puts him right in the mix with this group. Perhaps most importantly, Chunnel has enough positional speed to avoid getting shuffled back in the run to the first turn, and should work out a sweet inside pocket trip.

Remsen Stakes

Nashua winner Avery Island is the only dirt stakes winner and one of only three two-time winners in this field. In other words, this is not the strongest Remsen ever, so I have no qualms going with the maiden Alkhaatam.

Alkhaatam, from the same Chad Brown who sent out maiden Good Magic to win off in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, finished a good, gaining third in his debut at Belmont last month. He was edged for second by Triple Dog Dare, who is also in this race, and who also ran well. But Triple Dog Dare had the benefit of one previous start, and I feel Alkhaatam right now has more room for immediate improvement.