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Performer Seeks Grade I Glory in Cigar Mile

Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm’s Performer (Speightstown) looks to continue his hot streak as he takes his first crack at the highest level Saturday in Aqueduct’s GI Cigar Mile. Graduating at second asking at Belmont in June 2019, the chestnut captured a 6 1/2-panel allowance at Saratoga that August and a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer at Belmont last September. Closing out his sophomore season with a victory in this venue’s GIII Discovery S. just over a year ago, Performer was subsequently shelved and resurfaced with an optional claimer score in the mud at Belmont Oct. 17.

“He’s training well. It has been a while since he ran, but he’ll be fit enough,” trainer Shug McGaughey told the NYRA notes team. “He’s been over that track before. He seems to be doing as well now as he’s ever done.”

Grade I winner Firenze Fire (Poseidon’s Warrior) poses one of the biggest threats to likely favorite Performer here. Transferred from Jason Servis to Kelly Breen following the former’s federal indictment, the bay was fourth in the GI Carter H. June 6 and scored his first win for his new barn in Belmont’s GII True North S. June 27. Fourth in Saratoga’s GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. July 25, he was a disappointing 11th in a sloppy renewal of that venue’s GI Forego S. Aug. 29. Capturing the GII Vosburgh Invitational S. back at Belmont Sept. 26, Firenze Fire rallied from well back to by third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint S. at Keeneland Nov. 7.

“He’s doing well but right now the main concern is the weather,” admitted Breen. “If the track is sloppy, I don’t think we’re going to run. There are a couple of other options for him. But if the rain misses us, we’re running. He’s ready to go.”

Talented sophomore King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) takes on his elders in this return to action. Graduating in dominant fashion on turf in his second start at Gulfstream West last November, the bay was third in the grassy Pulpit S. in Hallandale Nov. 30. Switched back to the main track, he blew up the tote with a decisive score at 49-1 in the GII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 7 and ran second to Nadal (Blame) in their division of the GI Arkansas Derby May 2. King Guillermo was a late defection from the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby after spiking a fever just days before the race and displays a series of speedy drills at Gulfstream in the interim.

“He’s good. He’s ready,” conditioner Juan Avila said. “He’s getting ready to face that challenge. The mile will be good for him because he’s had seven months without a race.”

Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) could make some noise at a price here. The MGISW has not been at his best since racing resumed in June, but he is four-for-five at Aqueduct, including wins in the GIII Toboggan S. and GIII Tom Fool H. earlier this year.

“He’s been right on cue and has been full of himself and he really loves training at Belmont,” said trainer Greg Sacco. “His energy level was high. We were happy with everything coming into this race.”

Earlier this season, the 4-year-old produced sub-par performance in sloppy renewals of the GI Carter H. at Belmont and Saratoga’s GI Forego S., and according to Sacco, if Saturday’s stormy forecast comes to fruition, the bay would likely bypass Aqueduct’s feature race.

“It’s unfortunate because he’s training as good as ever and came out of the last race well,” Sacco said. “We were just hoping for a fast track and a little wetness on the track isn’t the end of the world, but if the forecast holds true, it doesn’t look like we’ll be running [Saturday].”

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Equibase Analysis: Performer Appears Ready For Spotlight In Cigar Mile

This Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile Handicap drew a field of nine and will likely be run on a wet racetrack given the weather forecast near Aqueduct.

Among the nine, five are millionaires, led by Firenze Fire ($2.2 million), who won the Grade 1 Vosburgh Invitational Stakes in September. However, Firenze Fire has only won once on a wet track in five races and finished 11th and fourth in his last two stakes on the type of surface he's likely to be running over in the Cigar Mile.
Another millionaire is Snapper Sinclair ($1.3 million), who moves back to the main track after a pair of in-the-money finishes on turf including a second place in the Tourist Mile this past summer.
Mr. Buff is a horse who likes to lead early, resulting in 15 wins in 40 starts and $1.2 million in the bank. He has a liking for off tracks with three wins but nearly all of his 15 career wins have been racked up against New York breds only and he finished fifth in his two tries in graded stakes this year.
Mind Control ($1 million) put together three straight graded stakes wins from August 2019 through March of this year including the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes at Aqueduct but hasn't threatened to win in five races since then, two of those over sloppy tracks.
Similarly, True Timber ($1 million) has now gone winless in 13 races since September of 2018 although he did finish third in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes in August over a sloppy track.
Majestic Dunhill won the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap in October and returns on five days rest following a seventh place effort in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap last Sunday.
Three-year-old King Guillermo won the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby in March before a second place finish in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in May and makes his return to the races in the Cigar Mile.
Bon Raison has won 11 of 44 races but has never won a stakes race.
Last but certainly not least is Performer, who has won five races in a row going back to June, 2019, including the Grade 3 Discovery Stakes in November of 2019, before a win in October following 11 months off.

Performer lost the first start of his career in November, 2018 and has not lost a race since. Moving straight through his first two allowance conditions in the summer of 2019, Performer improved to earn 105 and 106 Equibase Speed Figures before a new career-best figure in November of last year when victorious in the Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct. Rested for 11 months, Performer returned as if he had never been away to win a classified allowance race in mid-October with a 109 figure effort. Joel Rosario has been aboard for every race since the debut, all wins, and rides again. With the ground saving rail and the ability to take up a stalking spot from the start behind likely early leader Mr. Buff, and with logical improvement off his comeback effort in October, Performer should be very tough to beat in this year's Cigar Mile Handicap.

King Guillermo proved his 49-1 upset win in the Tampa Bay Derby was no fluke when clearly second in the Arkansas Derby on what would have otherwise been Kentucky Derby day in May. Although regressing a bit to a 101 figure in the Arkansas Derby from the 110 earned in the Tampa Bay Derby, King Guillermo proved he belongs in top company. Rested since May, King Guillermo put in a very strong pair of half-mile drills at his home base in south Florida, the first of the two the best of 59 on the day and the second the best of 38, suggesting he may be able to do what Performer did in his recent comeback off a long layoff, and that is run as if he had never been away at all.

Snapper Sinclair has more second place finishes (six) than wins (five) in his career but he is competitive quite often and may be the one finishing fastest of all in the Cigar Mile. Snapper Sinclair ran well when second in the Essex Mile Handicap in March on a sloppy track with a 107 figure, similarly missing by a head on a muddy track in the Fifth Season Stakes in January with the same figure. This fall, Snapper Sinclair has run even better, earning a 114 figure when second (beaten three-quarters of a length) in the Tourist Mile Stakes. That race was on turf, but having run so well on dirt earlier this year, I think Snapper Sinclair could get a big piece in this race in his current form.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Bon Raison (116), Firenze Fire (111), Mr. Buff (119), Majestic Dunhill (112), Mind Control (113) and True Timber (113).

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Performer
King Guillermo
Snapper Sinclair

Cigar Mile Handicap – Grade 1
Race 10 at Aqueduct
Saturday, Dec. 5 – Post Time 4:13 PM E.T.
One Mile
Three Years Olds and Upward
Purse: $250,000

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From the TDN Look: Keeping the Faith, Victor Martinez Believes in King Guillermo

Five-time MLB All-Star Victor Martinez is following a dream with King Guillermo– already a graded stakes winner who, after a seven-month layoff, is set to return to Grade I company.

King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) will be in a tough spot when he starts in the GI Cigar Mile H.at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old colt hasn’t raced since May 2 and has never faced older horses. That’s fine by his owner, retired MLB All-Star Victor Martinez.

“I’m not a big believer in favorites,” he said.

That was the theme throughout his baseball career and helped him surpass the modest expectations when he was a skinny kid out of Venezuela who got a mere $8,000 signing bonus from the Cleveland Indians as a 17-year-old prospect. He still feels that way, his beliefs strengthened by the emergence of the horse who seems to do his best when it is least expected.

During his playing days, Martinez was a casual racing fan who was first introduced to the sport as a boy in his hometown of Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. He retired in 2018 and just a few months later decided it might be fun for his family if he were to own a few racehorses. His agent from his playing days put him in touch with trainer Juan Carlos Avila, who had recently arrived in the U.S. after a distinguished career in Venezuela. Martinez didn’t want to just own horses. He wanted to own special horses.

“I sat down with Juan Carlos and I told him, ‘Listen you’re not going to get a horse just to go to the Kentucky Derby, you’re going to pick the horse that will win the Kentucky Derby,'” Martinez said. “He looked at me, like this guy is crazy. I’ve been dreaming my whole life, my whole career. I came to the United States with zero dollars in my pocket. Why not keep dreaming?”

Avila didn’t have the heart to tell Martinez that was being unrealistic. The two were soon headed to the 2019 OBS April 2-Year-Old sale in search of that special horse Martinez seemed to think was easy to come by. Martinez knew little about racing, breeding and the sales, but understood that Uncle Mo was one of the sport’s best sires. He wanted one.

“I just wanted a son of Uncle Mo,” he said.

The one he picked out was out of the Dixieland Band mare, Slow Sand. From six foals of racing age, she had produced five winners but no stars. Then there was the colt’s size. He was on the small side, something that would turn off a lot of buyers but not Martinez. He felt a connection with the horse.

“The way we got him, it made me reflect on my career,” he said. “He was a little guy and if he had weighed 100 more pounds we wouldn’t have been able to buy him. He would have cost way more. I was the same way. When I first signed in professional baseball I was 120, maybe 130, pounds. At the time, I was a shortstop and I only got an $8,000 signing bonus. I put a lot of work in to get where I did. He was a little guy that a lot of people didn’t pay any attention to.”

He broke in with the Cleveland Indians as a shortstop, but was told by that organization that the only way he could make it was if he switched positions and became a catcher. He was so discouraged by that decision that he called his mother and told her he was quitting. She refused to let him give up, maybe the best advice he ever received.

That scrawny kid from Venezuela bulked up to 235 pounds and became a five-time All Star. Martinez had 246 home runs and 1,178 RBI in his career, hitting .295. In 2015, he signed a four-year $68 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.

So there was something about this horse that reminded him of himself. For $150,000, a reasonable sum for an Uncle Mo, Martinez purchased the horse.

Click here to continue reading on the TDN Look.

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King Guillermo Comeback Scheduled For Cigar Mile

Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby-winner King Guillermo, trained by Juan C. Avila for Victoria's Ranch, is aiming to make his comeback in the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile for 3-year-olds and up on December 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Victoria's Ranch is the nom de course of retired baseball player Victor Martinez, a five-time All-Star who finished second in the MVP voting in 2014 when he hit 32 home runs. Martinez played for 18 seasons for a trio of teams – the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers – as a catcher, first baseman and designated hitter.

“We're going to train towards the Cigar Mile. We'd like to find him a Grade 1 win,” said Avila. “I think the one-turn mile suits him for his first race back.”

The Uncle Mo colt was scratched two days before a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby [won on September 5 by Authentic] after spiking a temperature. King Guillermo returned to the work tab on October 17 at Gulfstream Park breezing a half-mile in 51.78 seconds and fired a bullet half-mile in 46.48 on the Gulfstream main in his third recorded work on November 1.

“It was a very good breeze,” said Avila of the bullet work. “He's doing perfect.”

King Guillermo, named after Martinez's father, did not breeze this morning after Tropical Storm Eta brought heavy rain and gusty winds to South Florida.

A $150,000 purchase at the OBS April 2019 Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training, King Guillermo graduated last November at second asking on the Gulfstream Park West turf. After finishing third to the victorious Sole Volante in the Pulpit at one-mile on the Gulfstream turf on November 30, 2019, King Guillermo turned the tables on his rival with a 4 3/4-length score at odds of 49-1 in March in the Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16-miles on the main track.

King Guillermo exited his prominent Tampa Bay Derby coup to finish a game second to the undefeated multiple graded stakes winner Nadal in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at nine furlongs at Oaklawn Park.

Avila said King Gullermo will ship to New York on November 29.

The Cigar Mile Day card also includes a pair of Grade 2, $150,000 nine-furlong events for juveniles in the Remsen and its filly counterpart, the Demoiselle, as well as the Grade 3, $100,000 Go for Wand Handicap for fillies and mares at one mile.

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