Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct November 29
Posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Stone Farm’s Wanderin Boy heads the 20th running of the $300,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) ? the feature on a 9-race card that will also include the 95th running of the $200,000 Remsen Stakes (G2)Â and the 87th running of the $200,000 Demoiselle Stakes (G2) on Saturday, November 29, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Cigar Mile Handicap field of horses with jockeys and weight line up as follows:
- Visionaire under jockey Alan Garcia carries 116 lbs.
- Arson Squad under jockey Garrett Gomez, 119 lbs.
- Harlem Rocker under jockey Eibar Coa, 115 lbs.
- Bribon under jockey Rajiv Maragh, 114 lbs.
- Tale of Ekati under jockey Edgar Prado, 116 lbs.
- Monterey Jazz under jockey David Flores, 118 lbs.
- Storm Play under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, 114 lbs.
- Wanderin Boy under jockey John Velazquez, 118 lbs.
- Kodiak Kowboy under jockey Ramon Dominguez, 116 lbs.
Wanderin Boy has a 1-1-2 record from 4 starts this year. His races are well-spaced and he is always a threat. Although Wanderin Boy has raced at several tracks, the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile will be his first start at Aqueduct. A son of Seeking the Gold, he has also raced at various distances and has a 1-2-1 record from four starts at a mile.
The new face in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile is A and R Stable’s Monterey Jazz, who shipped in from California on Wednesday and has not raced since April. The Cigar Mile Handicap is Monteray Jazz’s first Grade 1 horse race.
“We’ve wanted to run in the Cigar Mile from the start,” Monterey Jazz race horse trainer Craig Dollase said. “After the Texas Mile, he injured his hind foot. We gave him some time off on the farm and just let him be a horse again. The rest did him good. He came back here and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s been training great and he looks terrific. The one-turn mile is right up his alley and we’re excited about the race. It is a great race.”
Craig Dollase’s optimism is based on Monterey Jazz’s performance in the Texas Mile, a Grade 3 dirt race at Lone Star Park that he dominated with an eight-length victory in 1:35 1/5. Not only was the margin of victory impressive, but so, too, the fact that it was his first start outside of California, where most of his starts were either on turf or synthetic surfaces.
Charles Fipke’s Tale of Ekati won the Wood Memorial (G1) at Aqueduct in the spring, and then snapped a 4-race losing streak by winning the Jerome Handicap (G2) in the slop at Belmont Park, home of the Belmont Stakes.
Other race horses that are part of the Cigar MIle field are Jay Em Ess Stable’s Arson Squad who won the Meadowlands Cup (G2), Stronach Stable’s Harlem Rocker who won the Withers Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct in the spring and Vinery Stable’s Kodiak Kowboy who enters Saturday’s horse race off his victory in the Sport Page Handicap (G3) at Belmont Park.
Undefeated in 2 starts at Aqueduct, Marc Keller’s Bribon (FR) takes a big step up for race horse trainer Bobby Ribaudo. The 5-year-old gelded son of Mark of Esteem Bribon has 2 wins and 2 seconds in 4 tries at a mile.
“The distance is right, the surface is right and now is the right time to take a shot in a graded stakes race,” race horse trainer Bobby Ribaudo said. “We know we are in a little bit over our head, and that horse from California (Monterey Jazz) will be tough, as will the others. But we have the right situation for us and it’s now or never.”
With jockey Alan Garcia committed to ride Visionaire, jockey Rajiv Maragh will ride Bribon in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile.
Team Valor International’s Visionaire put in one of the more memorable Aqueduct finishes of 2008 when he rallied to nip Texas Wildcatter in the Gotham Stakes (G3) on the inner track. Trained by Michael Matz, Visionaire comes out of a disappointing race in which he ran last as the post-time favorite in Belmont Park’s sloppy Jerome Handicap.
“(Jockey Alan Garcia) said he didn’t respond,” race horse trainer Michael Matz said. “I don’t know if something wasn’t to his liking. He had run well in the slop before. I just don’t know.”
Edward P. Evans’ Storm Play is the unbeaten son of Smart Strike who has won at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga. Storm Play will be making his graded stakes debut at Aqueduct’s Cigar Mile Handicap for race horse trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
The Cigar Mile Handicap is horse race 8 of Aqueduct’s November 29 card. Cigar Mile post time is 3:48 pm Eastern. Included in its undercard is the Remsen Stakes with post time 3:19 pm and Demoiselle Stakes with post time 2:49 pm.
Horse racing news edited from www.nyra.com.
Tags: Arson Squad, Bribon, Harlem Rocker, Kodiak Kowboy, Monterey Jazz, Storm Play, Tale of Ekati, Visionaire, Wanderin Boy
"Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct November 29" was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Aqueduct, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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