cigar mile handicap | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap is always a race to look forward to as we enter December, and the 2021 edition is no different. In terms of achievements, the field of eight is led by multiple graded stakes winner Code of Honor, with $2.9 million in career earnings. However, Code of Honor has run just four times this year and his only win came in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes in August. Independence Hall enters the race off a win in the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes at the end of October, but similar to Code of Honor has just that one win to his credit in 2021 (from six races). Ginobili may be bringing the best recent credentials into this year's Cigar Mile as he just finished second in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile following a win in the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes.

Then there's a pair of horses untried at this level in Americanrevolution and Olympiad. Americanrevolution just won the Empire Classic Stakes by 11 ¾ lengths, while Olympiad won an allowance race in mid-October. Plainsman won the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes at the beginning of October before a disappointing third place effort as the favorite in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap at the end of the month. Following Sea won the Grade 2 Vosburgh Stakes the second week of October then finished third of nine in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint and may find these opponents a bit easier. Pipeline rounds out the field as a colt who earned his first career win in September before a third place finish in the Perryville Stakes in October.

Top three win contenders:
Olympiad is the most lightly raced horse in the field, having run just four races to date. Two were in 2020 as a 2-year-old where he finished third before winning by nearly three lengths last summer at Saratoga. For whatever reason Olympiad was given a year off by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, and similar to his career debut 13 months earlier the colt was a bit short of 100% as he finished second this September. His next race and his most recent on October 14 was telling, as Olympiad controlled the pace in front from start to finish but even more notably held off a dogged rival throughout the stretch to win.

Improving to a career best 106 Equibase Speed Figure from 103 one month earlier, Olympiad appears to be on a pattern to take a big step forward. Jockey Joel Rosario, who rode Following Sea to victory in the Vosburgh Stakes in October as well as rode Plainsman to win the Ack Ack Stakes that same month, has never ridden Olympiad but gets aboard for the first time. This is significant in my opinion because Rosario, whose 2021 earnings stand at $32.9 million, is on a path to break the all-time yearly record for a jockey which stands at $34.1 million. As such, every mount through the end of the year takes on added significance and so Rosario's choice of riding Olympiad in a race where the winner's share of the purse is $450,000 is yet another reason I think this colt can post the upset and win the Cigar Mile Handicap.

Ginobili enters the Cigar Mile out of the toughest last race of any in the field where he was not disgraced when second of eight in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile behind Life Is Good. In that race, Life Is Good was sent to the front on fractions that would be impossible for most horses to maintain but won by almost six lengths. Ginobili raced in fifth and fourth in the early stages before showing a burst of speed to get to second, and was even lapped on the winner before Life is Good drew off in the stretch. That effort earned a 111 Equibase figure which was rock solid. Previous to that, Ginobili earned a 110 figure effort winning the Pat O'Brien Stakes in August and shows this horse has what it takes physically and mentally to win this race.

Following Sea is another coming out of a big race, the Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he finished third of nine. Although passed in the stretch by winner Aloha West, Following Sea had some traffic issues in the race as he was on the rail on the far turn and early in the stretch but lost his path. Jockey John Velazquez, who rides again in the Cigar Mile, had to angle the horse off the rail to find a path and although the momentum Following Sea had lost earlier could not be totally regained, he did surge late to get third and earn a 107 Equibase figure. One race earlier in the Vosburgh Stakes, Following Sea earned a career-best 117 figure which is one of the best in the field. One slight question is whether he will like this one-mile trip he is running for the first time as much as those two six furlongs sprints. Other than that, Following Sea appears to have what it takes to contend for top honors in the Cigar Mile.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Americanrevolution (117), Code of Honor (120), Independence Hall (109), Pipeline (104) and Plainsman (107).

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Olympiad
Ginobili
Following Sea

Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets– Grade 1
Race 10 at Aqueduct
Saturday, December 4 – Post Time 4:13 PM E.T.
One Mile
Three Years Olds and Upward
Purse: $750,000

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase.

The post Equibase Analysis: Olympiad Should Get The Gold In Cigar Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Cigars and timber are not usually a good pairing. But Calumet Farm's True Timber proved his talent at the highest level with a 5 1/2-length win over Snapper Sinclair in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Trainer Jack Sisterson said True Timber will fly to Keeneland on Monday and could start preparations for another challenging race, with the nine-furlong Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup on January 23 a possibility, along with the nine-furlong $20 million Saudi Cup on February 20 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“He's going on 7 [years old] and I don't want to take away what he loves to do, which is train and run,” Sisterson said. “He's not slowing down any. You need to capitalize. We'll look to bring him down to Palm Meadows in Florida and look at the Pegasus race form. We've also been invited to the Saudi Cup. We'll look at options like that and stretch him out. It'll be the first time around two turns for us, so we'll train him a little differently and see if he takes to that, and we'll go from there.”

True Timber registered his first win since September 2018, earning a trip to the winner's circle for the first time in 14 starts. The son of Mineshaft capped his 6-year-old year by capturing a race in which he's come close in the past, having run second by three-quarters of a length to Patternrecognition in 2018 and third in 2019 to Maximum Security.

“For True Timber, what impressed me the most was proving to people that he could win a big race and do it impressively,” said Sisterson. “He showed us in the morning that he has such a will to compete at a level like that. But from the outside looking in, the general public may have questioned his talent. He put forth his best effort, which we knew he had, yesterday.”

True Timber gave both his rider and conditioner an early Christmas gift. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, who has been riding professionally since 2000, earned his first career Grade 1 victory after piloting the bay Kentucky bred.

The victory also marked the second career Grade 1 score for Sisterson, who took over True Timber's training duties this summer when Kiaran McLaughlin retired to become a jockey agent. Sisterson, who started on his own as a trainer in 2018, previously won the Personal Ensign with Vexatious this summer at Saratoga Race Course.

True Timber graduated at second asking in December 2016 on the Big A inner track with Carmouche in the irons. The pair have partnered up on nine occasions for a record of 3-1-3. Carmouche entered Sunday's Closing Day leading Jose Lezcano by four wins for the fall meet's leading rider.

“It means a lot for me for my staff who does all the hard work and to have someone like Kendrick say he'd ride them back, it gave us a lot of confidence and means a lot,” Sisterson said. “To be able to team up and win a race like that, it's been a long time coming but a well-deserved victory for Kendrick, who is a talented jockey and deserves a win like that. I didn't give him any instructions. He just told me, 'I got you, brother,' before the race in a text. We are just fortunate enough to add one victory to what is hopefully a riding title for him.”

Though True Timber was on a winless streak, he still registered competitive efforts against top-flight competition, including a third in the Grade 1 Forego on August 29 over a sloppy Saratoga track. With the Cigar Mile being contested over another sloppy and sealed track, Sisterson said that experience proved beneficial in preparing him to take dirt, as he tracked in third position through the opening half-mile on Saturday behind pacesetter Mr. Buff and King Guillermo.

“I think what benefitted him the most yesterday was his outside position,” said Sisterson on True Timber leaving from post 5 in the six-horse field. “We learned in his training and in the runs that he had, he doesn't like being shut on the inside. We don't work him on the inside in company; he's always on the outside, and he breezes like a happy horse and trains like a happy horse on the outside.

“He ran a credible race in the Forego and I think if he was on the outside and not pressured, he might have hung around to not be beat as far, but he still finished a good third. I think his outside position yesterday really helped him out.”

Sisterson's other Cigar Mile entrant, Bon Raison, finished last of six but came out of the effort in good order. The 5-year-old son of Raison d'Etat entered off a 10th-place finish in last month's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland and will now receive a freshening after running nine times in 2020.

“We took a shot. He's a homebred and a beautiful horse who has talent and I think as a plan for him moving forward, he'll get a well-deserved break,” Sisterson said. “We think he has a few nice wins in him. Maybe not at that sort of caliber, but if we pick and choose our spots, we can bring him back in the springtime and have some fun with him next year.”

Also owned by Calumet, Bon Raison won against on October 16 going six furlongs against optional claimers at Keeneland.

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