Cigar Mile at Aqueduct: Preview and Expert Insights

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00:00We're going to focus on Aqueduct over in New York with their Graded Stakes Race and kick

00:06it off with the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.

00:08And if you want some more help with those races, if you're following us on social media

00:12like on X, we at DRF and DRF in Espanola will be posting a lot about that.

00:18I know our friend Roberto Rodriguez over there, he's been sending in a lot of content, so

00:22keep an eye on that.

00:24Let's make some money here, so we have plenty of money in our bank accounts and our accounts

00:28to fire away on the Hong Kong races.

00:30This is a good one.

00:31This is the Grade 2 Cigar Mile and you're going to see a lot of real quality horses

00:36in here.

00:37We'll start with the one, Alexa Bookham-Dano.

00:38He's a Grade 1 winner.

00:39He will have to step up though and face older horses for the first time.

00:43Comes off a race where he had a little bit of trouble at Keeneland when he was the heavy

00:46favorite.

00:47He finished second, beating the neck last time out.

00:48What do you think about Bookham-Dano in this spot?

00:51You know, Bookham-Dano is so talented.

00:53He's a millionaire.

00:54He's never done worse than third.

00:55He's won 60% of his races.

00:57He likes to sit a few off the pace, but also just a really tactical horse that can handle

01:02multiple pace scenarios.

01:03I really do think he'll get the spot he likes.

01:05You know, time premiums does predict him to win, but I think this is a really competitive

01:10race and I just had to make difficult choices, so I didn't actually include him, but it's

01:14not because I have anything negative to say about him.

01:16I just like some others more.

01:17I completely agree with you.

01:19This is the type of race where there are six or seven horses who you legitimately feel

01:23like could win this race and you can't use them all.

01:26For Alexa and me, we put up our selections.

01:28Sometimes it's top three or top four.

01:30In this race, I was the exact same.

01:32I don't really have a whole lot of knocks on him.

01:33I just sort of like others a little bit more and maybe the prices that we'll get on others

01:37a little bit more than on Bookham-Dano.

01:40We move to Nelson Avenue.

01:41He's sharp.

01:42He is in really nice form right now.

01:44He's grade three place, but he will have to step up and face tougher.

01:48I think he'll probably be part of the early speed.

01:50That's where time form US hasn't projected, Alexa.

01:52Yeah, I agree.

01:54He stepped up to that graded company last out and got second to Coastal Mission, who's

01:58also in here.

02:00I agree with you and time form that he's going to be setting the pace.

02:03He has that 126 early pace time from US rating, which is huge, but I'd be surprised if he's

02:08able to stick around and hold that position to the end.

02:10Repo Rocks is the next one.

02:12He comes off of a kind of a non-threatening fourth.

02:14He was behind Coastal Mission and Nelson Avenue last time out.

02:17He got really good last year.

02:19It kind of reminds me of a team that had a great year last year where everything was

02:22going well for them in the middle of the year.

02:24And then the next year, you're a baseball team or a basketball team.

02:27Sometimes you win the World Series and then the next year, it just doesn't go quite as

02:30well.

02:31He's not in as good a form right now as he was last year at the top of his game.

02:34I agree with you.

02:35You know, he's almost a seven year old gelding, so he's against a lot younger and tougher

02:38in here.

02:39Vince Sanity looks like a long shot horse who comes off kind of a disappointing effort

02:43last time out and now has to step up.

02:45Do you have anything positive about Vince Sanity?

02:48No, I don't understand why Vince Sanity is in this race.

02:50Yeah, he's in a tough spot.

02:52Mulliken, though, looks like one of the real horses to beat.

02:56Shout out to Rich, our producer right now.

02:57I know he's smiling thinking about Mulliken.

02:59He's a grade one winner.

03:00He's a multiple graded stakes winner.

03:02And when he was in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, he was actually favored, but he didn't get

03:05the normal trip, Alexa, where he shows his early speed.

03:08A lot of times when that happens to horses, they just back up.

03:11But he actually showed a new ability to come from off the pace.

03:14I was pretty impressed with that.

03:16Even though things weren't his way, he didn't get discouraged and he showed that he's got

03:19some fight.

03:21Yeah, I really like Mulliken.

03:22Mulliken was one of my favorite bets on that Breeders' Cup day and it didn't work out.

03:26But like you said, we saw something new.

03:28I'm actually stretching him out longer than he's ever been and he had that easy six-for-long

03:32work to prep.

03:33So I really like Mulliken in this spot.

03:35Yeah, and he could be the one to catch in here if he gets a good start and gets out

03:38of the gate quickly.

03:39Law Professor is just a really cool horse.

03:42He's been up and down the block for the last few years.

03:44You see him on the turf.

03:45You see him on the dirt.

03:46He's not quite as good.

03:48Maybe he doesn't have a ceiling as some of the best in here.

03:51But he's one of those horses that you might want to use in your tries and your supers

03:54because he usually outruns his odds and he has kind of a nice running style where I wouldn't

03:59be shocked, Alexa, if he hit the board and he were to run like third or fourth in here

04:02and maybe spice up some of the exotics.

04:04So I love Zaqueduct and he's proven at a mile.

04:07One of my personal favorite horses that I like to root for here.

04:11What do you think about Law Professor?

04:12I completely agree with you.

04:14This is a really good long shot to use underneath.

04:17This is a niche spot for him.

04:18He loves Zaqueduct.

04:19He's run your seven times, one five, never off the board and also likes this distance.

04:23So it could be a good price.

04:25Locked comes into this race looking like a major player.

04:28Locked was actually the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last year.

04:31So he was at the very tip top of the division.

04:33And then this year he was supposed to start in the Fountain of Youth.

04:36He had a knee injury that backed him up all the way to October.

04:40So he's only made one start this year and it was a win.

04:43I think he's ready to take a big step forward now.

04:46Second start off the bench, Alexa.

04:48I feel like this is a really nice spot for Locked.

04:50Totally agree.

04:51I mean, the fact that after a year off he had such an impressive performance, like we

04:55can only expect him to improve.

04:57Yep.

04:58Locked looks like one of the major players in here.

05:00Grade one winner last year.

05:02Pipeline will probably show some speed.

05:03The eight pipeline is grade one place, but was actually in this race last year and in

05:082021.

05:09Was ninth and then was eighth.

05:11Do we think he has a shot in this year's Cigar Mile?

05:13Not really.

05:14You know, his figures haven't really improved since the last few times around.

05:17So I don't really think we can expect to see much different results.

05:20Señor Buscador is another really cool horse in this race.

05:23We have some fun stories and one of them is Señor Buscador, who starting last year was

05:27in this race, then went to the Pegasus World Cup.

05:30He was second in both of them.

05:31Then he went and won the Saudi Cup and then was third in the Dubai World Cup.

05:35So he went on a stretch of like four or five of the biggest and most prestigious races

05:39in the world and ran really well in all of them.

05:42He comes back this year, kind of trending back into positive form.

05:46The only concern we have with him, Alexa, is just his running style.

05:49You kind of know what you're going to get from him, right?

05:51He doesn't have a whole lot of early speed.

05:53He's going to drop back and he's going to make that one late run.

05:55Oh, he's 100 percent a clear cut closer.

05:58So I mean, that is his style.

06:00You see it on, you know, the time from U.S. pace projector as well, that he has that late

06:04late pace flag.

06:05I mean, he's won almost 13 million dollars.

06:07The source knows how to collect a check.

06:10And I like him a lot.

06:12I think if Mulligan doesn't, you know, stick around, then Senor Buscador picks it up at

06:16the end.

06:17He's a real interesting horse because he's coming off of a good effort in the Breeders'

06:20Cup.

06:21And if you just look at the four horses who were in front of him that day, they really

06:23could.

06:24Sierra Leone, Fierceness, Forever Young and Newgate.

06:27Any one of them in this race would be a major, major player.

06:30Coastal Mission is another cool horse to root for.

06:33He's a 14 time winner.

06:34He's done a lot of his work at Charlestown because he's a West Virginia bred, but he's

06:38now a grade three winner.

06:39Do you think he fits with this group?

06:41You know, he got fifth in this last year.

06:43He's a millionaire as well.

06:45He's beat some of the other opponents in here, but he's also lost to Mulligan and Senor Buscador.

06:50So I think it's going to be a tough spot.

06:51It's not an impossible ask, but a tough position to be in.

06:55We have a couple of horses in this race who were in the Breeders' Cup and who hit the

06:58board in the Breeders' Cup.

06:59And one of them was Postime.

07:01Postime is another one kind of like Senor Buscador.

07:04He's a late closer.

07:05You know what you're going to get.

07:06He's remarkably consistent though.

07:08He always hits the board.

07:10He always shows up with the late run.

07:11He just kind of needs the pace to get it right, to get the big money.

07:15Yeah.

07:16He's the other closer in here.

07:17I like him.

07:18He's actually my third selection.

07:19You know, it's the, the Russell duo, Brittany Russell, the trainer, her husband, Sheldon

07:23is riding.

07:24So that's kind of fun to root for, but he's a great closer.

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