Solid field for Cigar Mile at Aqueduct

One of the greats will be remembered this weekend.

The last Grade 1 race of the year on the New York circuit, the $750,000 Cigar Mile, will be run Saturday at Aqueduct.

It honors the Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996.

Known affectionately for decades as “The Big A,” Aqueduct is where the Grade 1 season annually gets underway each year in New York with the Wood Memorial and Carter Handicap in April.

The Cigar Mile was originally known as the NYRA Mile when it was inaugurated in 1988 and won by Forty Niner.

Normally run on Thanksgiving weekend, it was moved to the first weekend in December for this edition, the idea being that perhaps the extra week would draw some performers from the Breeders’ Cup, held on

the first weekend of November at Del Mar in California.

As of this writing, it appears the Cigar Mile has drawn Sharp Azteca, who was a powerful second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Another probable is Grade 1 winner Mind Your Biscuits, who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

The Cigar is a serious Grade 1 event, and this year’s likely participants are a terrific lot.

Practical Joke is under consideration for it, and the three-time Grade 1 winner exits a fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Other stakes winners in the field include Americanize, Beasley, Seymour-

dini, and Tom’s Ready.

The Cigar Mile has some outstanding winners on its roster, including Cigar himself, who won it in 1994.

Other top winners include Quiet American (1990), Rubiano (1991), Left Bank (2001), Stay Thirsty (2012), and Flat Out (2013).

Cigar’s victory in the NYRA Mile launched one of racing’s greatest win streaks.

It came in his 15th career start, as a 4-year- old in 1994 and was his first stakes win.

He had previously started on turf in 11 of his first 14 races, and entered the NYRA Mile with three victories on his slate.

Cigar then won his next 14 races, including Grade 1 scores in the Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Oddly, only one Cigar Mile winner earned an Eclipse Award in the year he won the race.

That was Kodiak Kowboy, who was the Eclipse Award champion sprinter in 2009.

Four other graded stakes are on Saturday’s program at Aqueduct.

They are the Remsen and Demoiselle, for 2-year- old colts and fillies, respectively, at 1 1/8 miles each with a purse of $250,000, and the $200,000 Go for Wand at one mile for older females.

Among the Remsen contenders is Bandito, who broke his maiden at the distance at Keeneland this fall.

He is trained by Dale Romans, who has a strong group of youngsters in his barn this year.

Also pointing for the Remsen is Biblical, who

also broke his maiden at Aqueduct on Nov. 17 at this distance.

Trainer Bill Hickey, of Saratoga Springs, has a probable entrant in the Demoiselle in Silver Bay.

She won the $75,000 Juvenile Filly Sprint at Gulfstream Park West on Nov. 17.

One of the top choices in the Demoiselle will be Daisy, winner of the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes at Aqueduct going one mile on Nov. 3.

Among the Go for Wand probables is Verve’s Tale, winner of the Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 20 for trainer Barclay Tagg.