Cigar Mile brings pleasant memories for Hall of Famer Mott

by Bob Ehalt

There are not many Grade 1 stakes on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) schedule that have eluded Bill Mott’s grasp.

There’s a full page in the NYRA Media Guide dedicated to the Hall of Fame trainer’s wealth of wins in famed stakes such as the Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Yet among all of those victories over the last three decades, there’s one stakes with a special meaning to Mott.

On Saturday at Aqueduct, NYRA’s final Grade 1 stakes of the year will be contested with the 28th running of the $500,000 Cigar Mile, a handicap race named in honor of Mott’s great champion and two-time Horse of the Year.

Still fondly remembered for NYRA track announcer Tom Durkin’s dubbing of him as the “unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar” in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park, he recorded his first stakes win for owner Allen Paulson and Mott in the 1994 NYRA Mile. It was the second in a string of 16 straight victories for Cigar.

Three years later, the NYRA Mile was renamed the Cigar Mile, and twice since then Mott has won the prestigious race named after his charismatic star, triumphing in 2013 with Flat Out and 2011 with To Honor and Serve.

“I’m glad they honored Cigar with that race,” Mott said. “It was very gratifying. He won quite a few major races in New York, and the fact it was his first stakes win was meaningful.”

While the NYRA Mile was an important stepping stone for Cigar, the race has also served as a graceful exit to the breeding shed. A year ago, Tonalist closed out a stellar career with a victory in the Cigar Mile that accentuated the class he displayed in winning the 2014 Belmont Stakes as well as the 2014 and 2015 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“Becoming a Grade 1 winner at a mile and a mile and a half was important for Tonalist,” said trainer Christophe Clement. “It’s been proven that people are looking for milers to turn them into stallions and that win showed his versatility.”

From its inception in 1988, the Grade 1 test has attracted a steady stream of champions and renown graded stakes winners. In that initial edition, the winner was Forty Niner, that year’s Travers Stakes winner and champion 2-year-old of 1987, while future Hall of Famer Precisionist was third.

 “When you look at the horses that have raced in Cigar Mile, it’s a Hall of Fame roster,” said Mike Repole, a three-time leading owner at Saratoga.

For Repole, the 2012 Cigar Mile was the highlight of what he called “my greatest day of racing.” After winning the Grade 2 Demoiselle with Unlimited Budget and Grade 2 Remsen with Overanalyze, 2011 Travers winner Stay Thirsty gave Repole a third straight graded stakes win on the Aqueduct card with a dramatic nose victory over two-time Eclipse Award winner Groupie Doll.

“Stay Thirsty was a great second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and most people would have gone to the Breeders’ Cup, but I thought the Cigar Mile was better for him,” Repole said. “I grew up in Queens and that race is one of three Grade 1’s stakes at Aqueduct. So to win it was super special for me.”