mind control | Horse Racing Free Tips

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].”

The post Performer Seeks Grade I Glory in Cigar Mile appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

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

The post Equibase Analysis: Performer Appears Ready For Spotlight In Cigar Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Mind Control Pointing Toward Cigar Mile; Sisterson May Run Pair

Multiple Grade 1-winner Mind Control, trained by Gregg Sacco for Steve Brunetti's Red Oak Stable and Sol Kumin's Madaket Stables, posted a five-eighths work in 1:01.85 Sunday on the Belmont Park dirt training track in preparation for the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile for 3-year-olds and up on December 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

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.

Sacco said Mind Control, a 4-year-old son of 2012 Cigar Mile champ Stay Thirsty, is likely to enter the Cigar Mile, although the six-furlong Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap on November 29 at the Big A remains under consideration.

“He worked well. He went five-eighths in 1:01 and change and out in 1:15. The track was a little heavy this morning,” said Sacco. “I'll talk it over with my brother [racing manager Rick Sacco], Steve Brunetti and Sol Kumin, but it looks like we're going to point him to the Cigar Mile.”

The talented colt captured the seven-furlong Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course as a juvenile and added the seven-furlong Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens to his ledger last August at the Spa.

A four-time winner at Aqueduct, Mind Control captured the one-mile Jerome here in his first sophomore start and ran second to Haikal at one mile in the 2019 Grade 3 Gotham ahead of a score in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Bay Shore. He continued his good form at Ozone Park earlier this year with wins in the Grade 3 Toboggan in January and Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap in March.

After running off-the-board on a sloppy track in the Grade 1 Runhappy Carter Handicap in June at Belmont, Mind Control returned to form with a strong third in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. His chances in the Grade 1 Forego presented by America's Best Racing at Saratoga were hampered by a sloppy track, resulting in an eighth-place finish.

“He's been a bit of a victim of circumstance this year,” said Sacco. “He started out the year great, but caught the slop in the Carter and then he ran well on the fast track in the Vanderbilt before catching slop again in the Forego. He really can't hold up in the slop.”

Mind Control found class relief in the Mr. Prospector on September 12 at Monmouth Park but was checked down the backstretch en route to a third-place finish. Last out, in the Lafayette at Keeneland, Mind Control was in range to strike when a horse fell in front of him at the quarter pole causing Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez to take up his mount.

Sacco said he is hopeful Mind Control can return to winning form at Aqueduct against an expected field that includes top contenders Performer and Firenze Fire.

“He's won at a mile early in his 3-year-old career in the Jerome and he was a good second in the Gotham,” said Sacco. “We always thought between seven-eighths and a mile was his best distance. Three-quarters is a little short for him even though he's won at that distance and ran a dynamite race in the Vanderbilt at Saratoga.

“He loves Aqueduct and he came out of the Kentucky race well,” added Sacco. “We know it's going to be a tough heat. Performer is a hell of a horse and there's a few other really nice horses in there.”

Sisterson may start pair in Cigar
Trainer Jack Sisterson saddled his first Grade 1-winner this summer with Vexatious in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga and said he is hoping to double up when he sends out Calumet Farm's True Timber and Bon Raison in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile.

“We'll definitely send True Timber and there's a good chance we'll send Bon Raison for the Cigar Mile as well,” said Sisterson.

True Timber, a 6-year-old son of Mineshaft, will be making his third Cigar Mile appearance following a close second to Patternrecognition in 2018 and a third a year ago in an event won by Maximum Security.

A veteran of 28 career starts, True Timber boasts a record of 28-4-5-9 with purse earnings in excess of $1 million. He joined the Sisterson barn earlier this season following the retirement of former trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

In four starts with Sisterson, True Timber has posted two thirds and a closing second last out in the Lafayette at Keeneland.

“He's a lovely horse and the way he tries on the day he really deserves to win a big race. He's definitely got the talent to do it,” said Sisterson. “He's very workmanlike in the morning, so I've learned to let him just put his feet where he wants to put them and keep him happy.”

His lone off-the-board effort for Sisterson was a fourth in the Grade 2 Vosburgh Invitational in September at Belmont when leaving from the inside post in a race won by Cigar Mile-rival Firenze Fire.

“He didn't like being stuck down on the rail at Belmont two races back [in the Vosburgh], and that's just him. Put a line through that race and he's run some competitive races with us,” said Sisterson. “He seems to be peaking into his best possible performance to date with us. He has one more breeze here next week and if all goes to plan, I definitely expect him to run as good in there as he has done in the past. He's probably looking forward to getting up there.”

Bon Raison, a 5-year-old Raison d'Etat horse, is a Calumet homebred, who returned to the fold in July when claimed for $80,000 from an optional-claiming sprint at Saratoga.

A veteran of 44 career starts, Bon Raison owns a record of 11-4-7 with purse earnings of $674,534. He captured the 6 ½-furlong Peeping Tom at Aqueduct as part of a marathon 21-race campaign last year that also included a score in the six-furlong Tale of the Cat at Saratoga. Earlier this year, Bon Raison picked up graded black type when third to Mind Control in the Grade 3 Tom Fool at the Big A.

“He's a homebred and has a special place in Calumet's heart,” said Sisterson. “If you really diagnose his form and numbers, he's got some big numbers to go back to. He's run quite a few times and at different distances and he was able to withstand all of that. It goes to show the will to run he has.”

In his second start for Sisterson, Bon Raison tried the Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs in September but failed to fire. He came back and won a hard-fought nose score in an optional-claiming sprint on October 16 on the Keeneland main track.

“We took a shot at Kentucky Downs and some horses take to that course and some don't,” said Sisterson. “He came out of that race fine and trained forwardly into the nice little allowance race at Keeneland which he somehow ended up winning. He just got up. It just goes to show he still has the will to run.”

Last out, Bon Raison was a non-threatening tenth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 7 at Keeneland under Adam Beschizza. He exited that effort to work a half-mile in 49.40 Saturday on the Keeneland dirt.

“If you look closely at the Breeders' Cup Sprint, Adam Beschizza got off him and said, 'Jack, you have to watch the replay, I didn't even touch him with the whip. I had nowhere to run,'” said Sisterson. “So, he didn't have a tough race coming out of the Breeders' Cup Sprint and he worked great yesterday.”

Sisterson said the Calumet pair have complimentary running styles, with True Timber likely to be prominently placed.

“One will be forwardly placed and one will be coming from off the pace and it wouldn't shock me if either of them won it in two weeks' time,” said Sisterson. “He [True Timber] has a naturally high cruising speed and if you can get him into a good rhythm, I think he can carry that over a distance of ground.”

Sisterson said Kendrick Carmouche will have the call aboard True Timber, while Jorge Vargas, Jr. will pilot Bon Raison.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the 18-day fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

Early look at the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile on December 5, 2020
Probable: Bon Raison (Jack Sisterson), Firenze Fire (Kelly Breen), King Guillermo (Juan Carolos Avila), Mr. Buff (John Kimmel), Mind Control (Gregg Sacco), Performer (Shug McGaughey), True Timber (Jack Sisterson)

Possible: Majestic Dunhill (George Weaver)

The post Mind Control Pointing Toward Cigar Mile; Sisterson May Run Pair appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Whitmore Seeks Second Forego Score

The hard-knocking Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) captured the 2018 GI Forego S. and, after missing last year’s Saratoga meet, he looks to take home the trophy again in this year’s renewal Saturday. Runner-up in the King Cotton S. at the start of this term Feb. 8, the chestnut captured the Hot Springs S. Mar. 7 and followed suit with a win in the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. Apr. 18. He completed the exacta behind Volatile (Violence) in this venue’s GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt S. last time July 25.

“Pace makes the race as we’ve seen in a lot of these races,” said trainer Ron Moquett. “He’s always good enough to make a big difference but you want him to do it without being put at a disadvantage.”

Also exiting the Vanderbilt are third-place finisher Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) and fourth-place finisher Firenze Fire (Poseidon’s Warrior). A Grade I winner at two and three at Saratoga, Mind Control captured in the GIII Toboggan S. Jan. 18 and GIII Tom Fool H. Mar. 7. He was sixth to subsequent GI Met Mile hero Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Runhappy Carter H. June 6 prior to the Vanderbilt.

Firenze Fire, whose lone top-level victory came during his juvenile campaign, captured the GIII General George S. at Laurel in his final start for Jason Servis prior to that conditioner’s arrest as part of a federal indictment for horse doping. Transferred to Kelly Breen, the homebred was fourth in the Carter, but returned to the winner’s circle at Belmont in the June 27 GII True North S.

A Grade I winner at two in the Champagne S., ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Complexity (Maclean’s Music) romped in an Aqueduct optional claimer in November and was fourth to Omaha Beach (War Front) next out in the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Dec. 28. Subsequently shelved, the bay made a victorious return in a one-mile event at Belmont July 2.

The post Whitmore Seeks Second Forego Score appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post