Gary Barber's Get Her Number brings winning form into Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Peter Miller, the 4-year-old Dialed In bay returned from a nearly three-month layoff last out to capture a six-furlong optional-claiming sprint by a head over graded-stakes winning stablemate Ginobili on November 20 at Del Mar. The swiftly-run effort garnered a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a stacked field that saw multiple graded-stakes winner Forbidden Kingdom run third, while recent Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship victor Howbeit checked in fourth.
“It was a real salty group. We had thought about using that race as a prep for the Cigar Mile. It's not like we ran him and then decided. We knew if he ran well enough it would be our key work going into this race,” said Miller, who has enjoyed past success at the Big A with Comma to the Top in the 2013 Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap and Spiced Perfection in the 2019 Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap. “It was a really good effort and he's doing great out of the race.”
Get Her Number made his first two starts on the Del Mar turf, graduating on debut in August 2020 ahead of a close pacesetting fourth in the one-mile Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He made his dirt debut a winning one with a prominent effort in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 American Pharoah, besting eventual Grade 1 Preakness-winner Rombauer by three-quarters of a length.
Get Her Number was winless in four starts last season, but returned victorious in his 4-year-old debut in an optional-claiming sprint in March over the Santa Anita turf. He captured an optional-claimer on the Churchill Downs main track in June ahead of a rallying runner-up effort in the six-furlong Grade 1 Bing Crosby on July 30 at Del Mar.
Miller decided to give Get Her Number a break after an uncharacteristic seventh in the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien on August 27 at Del Mar.
“He just tailed off on me a little bit. He didn't go the farm or anything,” Miller said. “We just backed up on him and let him get back to himself. He's really come back well. It's a very tough race, but I expect him to run well.”
The versatile Get Her Number boasts wins sprinting as well as around two-turns on the main track, along with a pair of wins on turf, leaving Miller to wonder what the colt's best race truly is as he prepares to take on multiple Grade 1-winner Mind Control and the talented Grade 1-winning sophomores Zandon and White Abarrio.
“It's a good question. I'm hoping it's a one-turn mile,” said Miller, with a laugh. “He'll need to be at his best to beat Mind Control and Zandon, but I think anywhere from seven-eighths to a mile and sixteenth – although he did just win at three-quarters, but that's a little short for him.”
Bred in Kentucky by Philip Robertson and Brenda Robertson, Get Her Number boasts a record of 14-5-1-1 for purse earnings of $550,661 – more than 10 times his $45,000 purchase price at the 2020 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where he breezed under tack in 21 flat.
“He's a very good-looking horse and he previewed really well at the 2-year-old sale,” recalled Miller. “I've had some luck with Dialed In horses and that led me to buy him.”
Get Her Number, who arrived in New York on Wednesday, will exit post 4 Saturday under Luis Saez, who won this event last year with Americanrevolution.
“I'm real comfortable with Luis riding,” said Miller of Saez, who was leading rider at the recently concluded Churchill Downs fall meet. “It looks like there's a couple of speeds in there, so we'll likely be sitting third or fourth.”
The Cigar Mile is carded as Race 9 and headlines a lucrative program which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle in Race 6, offering 10-4-3-2-1 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points; the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen in Race 7, providing 10-4-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points; and the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand in Race 8. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.
Saturday will also feature the annual “Toys for Tots” day of giving at Aqueduct Racetrack. The longtime holiday tradition at the Big A is offered in partnership with the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation.
Now in its 75th year, Toys for Tots collects and distributes new, unwrapped toys to local children in need each holiday season. There will be several ways to contribute during the weekend of giving – at donation boxes at the Turf and Field entrance and the Clubhouse lobby by the escalator at Aqueduct, and online as well.
Fans can donate online at https://www.toysfortots.org/donate/ – using a credit card with a secure one-step process; or by selecting and donating toys through the organization's virtual toy box. You can also give with a check made out to the “Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation” and mailed to: U.S. Marine Corps; Attention: GySgt, John Sardine; 605 Stewart Avenue; Garden City, N.Y. 11530.
The post After ‘Real Salty’ Win At Six Furlongs, Miller Confident As Get Her Number Stretches Out For Cigar Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
