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G1-winner Get Her Number ships in for G1 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets

by NYRA Press Office

• G1-winner Get Her Number ships in for G1 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets
• Cash saddles two in search of first G1 victory in Cigar Mile Handicap
• Terranova hopeful that Bank Sting will bee-come graded stakes winner in G3 Go for Wand
• Aqueduct fall meet Week 6 stakes probables 

Gary Barber’s Get Her Number brings winning form into Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Peter Miller, the 4-year-old Dialed In bay returned from a nearly three-month layoff last out to capture a six-furlong optional-claiming sprint by a head over graded-stakes winning stablemate Ginobili on November 20 at Del Mar. The swiftly-run effort garnered a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a stacked field that saw multiple graded-stakes winner Forbidden Kingdom run third, while recent Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship victor Howbeit checked in fourth.

“It was a real salty group. We had thought about using that race as a prep for the Cigar Mile. It's not like we ran him and then decided. We knew if he ran well enough it would be our key work going into this race,” said Miller, who has enjoyed past success at the Big A with Comma to the Top in the 2013 Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap and Spiced Perfection in the 2019 Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap. “It was a really good effort and he's doing great out of the race.”

Get Her Number made his first two starts on the Del Mar turf, graduating on debut in August 2020 ahead of a close pacesetting fourth in the one-mile Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He made his dirt debut a winning one with a prominent effort in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 American Pharoah, besting eventual Grade 1 Preakness-winner Rombauer by three-quarters of a length.

Get Her Number was winless in four starts last season, but returned victorious in his 4-year-old debut in an optional-claiming sprint in March over the Santa Anita turf. He captured an optional-claimer on the Churchill Downs main track in June ahead of a rallying runner-up effort in the six-furlong Grade 1 Bing Crosby on July 30 at Del Mar. 

Miller decided to give Get Her Number a break after an uncharacteristic seventh in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien on August 27 at Del Mar.

“He just tailed off on me a little bit. He didn't go the farm or anything,” Miller said. “We just backed up on him and let him get back to himself. He's really come back well. It's a very tough race, but I expect him to run well.”

The versatile Get Her Number boasts wins sprinting as well as around two-turns on the main track, along with a pair of wins on turf, leaving Miller to wonder what the colt’s best race truly is as he prepares to take on multiple Grade 1-winner Mind Control and the talented Grade 1-winning sophomores Zandon and White Abarrio.

“It's a good question. I'm hoping it's a one-turn mile,” said Miller, with a laugh. “He'll need to be at his best to beat Mind Control and Zandon, but I think anywhere from seven-eighths to a mile and sixteenth - although he did just win at three-quarters, but that's a little short for him.”

Bred in Kentucky by Philip Robertson and Brenda Robertson, Get Her Number boasts a record of 14-5-1-1 for purse earnings of $550,661 - more than 10 times his $45,000 purchase price at the 2020 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where he breezed under tack in 21 flat.

“He's a very good-looking horse and he previewed really well at the 2-year-old sale,” recalled Miller. “I've had some luck with Dialed In horses and that led me to buy him.”

Get Her Number, who arrived in New York on Wednesday, will exit post 4 Saturday under Luis Saez, who won this event last year with Americanrevolution.

“I'm real comfortable with Luis riding,” said Miller of Saez, who was leading rider at the recently concluded Churchill Downs fall meet. “It looks like there's a couple of speeds in there, so we'll likely be sitting third or fourth.”

The Cigar Mile is carded as Race 9 and headlines a lucrative program which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle in Race 6, offering 10-4-3-2-1 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points; the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen in Race 7, providing 10-4-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points; and the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand in Race 8. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

Saturday will also feature the annual "Toys for Tots” day of giving at Aqueduct Racetrack. The longtime holiday tradition at the Big A is offered in partnership with the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation. 

Now in its 75th year, Toys for Tots collects and distributes new, unwrapped toys to local children in need each holiday season. There will be several ways to contribute during the weekend of giving – at donation boxes at the Turf and Field entrance and the Clubhouse lobby by the escalator at Aqueduct, and online as well. 

Fans can donate online at https://www.toysfortots.org/donate/ – using a credit card with a secure one-step process; or by selecting and donating toys through the organization’s virtual toy box. You can also give with a check made out to the “Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation” and mailed to: U.S. Marine Corps; Attention: GySgt, John Sardine; 605 Stewart Avenue; Garden City, N.Y. 11530.

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Cash saddles two in search of first G1 victory in Cigar Mile Handicap

Just one month ago, trainer Norman “Lynn” Cash scored the first graded victory of his career with Double Crown in the Grade 2 Kelso on October 29 at Belmont at the Big A. 

The Maryland-bred son of Bourbon Courage will return to the scene of his 42-1 upset triumph to take on the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack, entering the starting gate with stablemate Outlier in hopes of providing Cash with his first Grade 1 victory. 

“We’re longshots of course, but five weeks ago Double Crown was 42-1 and we probably won’t be again, so I think we’re ahead,” said Cash. “It’s pretty exciting.”

Double Crown, co-owned by Cash with his wife Lola Cash, has proven well worth the $40,000 Cash paid for the 5-year-old gelding when haltering him out of a close second-place effort in June at Churchill Downs. In addition to the Kelso, Double Crown has also posted an optional claiming victory at Colonial Downs and a runner-up finish in the Polynesian at Pimlico. 

“There was nobody more surprised with the Kelso win than I,” Cash said, with a laugh. “He is a completely honest horse and has the talent to run his race. Even if the race is above his talent level, he gives you a solid effort. He runs on short or long rest. He always runs his race. I’m hopeful the Kelso wasn’t a fluke and that he’s moved ahead.”

Cash began training horses last year after spending nearly a decade dabbling in racehorse ownership. The Maryland and Kentucky-based conditioner trains around 50 horses, all of which were claimed and owned by him and his wife. Cash said he claims most of his horses based on back class, as he did with Double Crown. 

“I was in the roofing business and turned it over to my sons and got into this. I never thought a year and a half later we’d run in eight or 10 stakes races a month,” said Cash. “These are all claimed horses that we’ve picked up and made happy. Sometimes a change in scenery puts them in a better mood and if they’re happier, they run better. Double Crown is a Maryland-bred, and that was a factor in claiming him. I lean towards back class because there’s been a few maidens I’ve claimed and it didn’t work out. I look for horses who maybe aren’t running as good as they once did.” 

Double Crown’s back class includes two stakes wins as a sophomore in Gulfstream Park’s Roar and Carry Back, as well as a pair of graded placings when third in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint and a close second in the Grade 3 Chick Lang, all for former conditioner Kathy Ritvo. 

Cash said bringing Double Crown to a mile this year has helped him regain old form. 

“I think the one-turn mile has helped him,” said Cash. “He does run on the front end but we like a little pace to close into.”  

Cash’s other entrant, Outlier, figures to give Double Crown an honest pace to run at. The son of Not This Time recently posted back-to-back runner-up efforts by slim margins in a one-mile allowance on November 12 at Aqueduct and a 6 1/2-furlong sprint just five days later at Charles Town where he lost by a head after stalking the pace. 

“He has probably been ran over his head to keep the pace honest in several allowance races, but the race here two back was an amazing race,” said Cash. “He almost went by the winner in the last 200 yards and he just didn’t give up. If he gets on the lead by himself, his heart grows immensely. He’s running better and better.” 

The 4-year-old gelding will be making both his 20th start of the year and his stakes debut, but Cash is confident Outlier is up for the challenge. 

“He’s as healthy as can be. He’s up, he’s peppy and he’s a smaller horse who’s up and at it,” said Cash. “He gets out of the gate good and almost won his Charles Town race. He’s a runner.” 

Outlier, who boasts a lifetime record of 40-8-4-5, has amassed $256,066 earnings and has won 3-of-22 starts for Cash since being haltered for $50,000 out of a win last November at Churchill Downs. 

Cash started the week at Aqueduct on a high note, scoring a $35,000 claiming event with Money Mike in Race 3 on Thursday. While the son of Into Mischief was claimed, Cash said the win gives him confidence going into the Cigar Mile. 

“We’ve been having a good meet here,” said Cash. “I’ve got a barn in Kentucky and at Laurel and I’ve decided I’m shipping east with a lot of my Kentucky horses this winter. We step up to the plate more often than we should, but it’s fun.” 

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Terranova hopeful that Bank Sting will bee-come graded stakes winner in G3 Go for Wand

Hidden Brook Farm, Joseph G. McMahon and Anne McMahon’s Bank Stinghas proven to be a winning machine with eight triumphs in 13 lifetime starts, but the only thing missing on a stellar resume is a graded stakes victory. That could all change when the reigning New York-bred Champion Older Mare takes on a deep field in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

Bank Sting tried graded stakes company once this year, finishing a distant fourth in the Grade 2 Ruffian on May 8 at Belmont Park. Terranova said he decided to give Bank Sting another shot in graded company rather than wait for the NYSSS Staten Island here on Sunday.

“She’s proven against restricted and listed company already,” Terranova said. “So, to give her this opportunity at this stage where she’s doing so well to possibly have a graded stakes win would be important to her as a broodmare going forward later on. We just thought it was a good opportunity to take a try at it. She’s doing well and we like the race.”

Bank Sting, by perennial New York-leading sire Central Banker, will return to the mile distance for the first time since finishing second to fellow New York-bred Champion Make Mischief in the Critical Eye on May 30 at Belmont Park. 

A winner of the 2021 Critical Eye in her first stakes conquest, Bank Sting also won the Heavenly Prize Invitational at the same distance on March 6 at the Big A in her lone open-company stakes conquest for trainer John Terranova.

Breaking from post 10 and tabbed as the 4-1 morning-line co-second choice by NYRA oddsmaker David Aragona, Bank Sting will face a formidable group, including the red-hot Battle Bling who arrives off a triumph in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm on November 4 at Aqueduct. Other contenders include dual stakes-winner Love in the Air, graded stakes-placed Tonal Vision and West Coast-based stakes-winner Sharapova. 

Two starts back, Bank Sting cut back to six furlongs for the Dancin Renee on June 26 at Belmont, which she won by 5 1/2 lengths. 

“I think she’s versatile,” Terranova said of her distance capabilities. “Anywhere from six [furlongs] to a mile is good for her. No real concerns, obviously the mile is within reach. She’s able to get that over that track in particular. All good as far as that goes.”

Terranova admitted that the Go for Wand field was a little bigger than he thought it would be. 

“I had heard they were expecting less, but others decided to enter,” Terranova said. “Whoever is staying in, who knows. With it being this late in the year and this race being a graded stakes for fillies and mares, I don’t think there’s much left for the year.”

Bank Sting, a 5-year-old mare, has banked $612,050 and earned five stakes victories. Terranova said she will likely remain in training in 2023 for her 6-year-old season. 

“She’s a good, healthy filly. It’s up the owners and everyone involved,” Terranova said. “For now, we’re looking forward to Saturday. We’ll see how she does tomorrow and go from there.”

Turf stakes-winning juvenile Freedom Trail finished a close eighth in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club on November 26 at Churchill Downs in his main track debut. He stalked a close third down the backstretch under Florent Geroux, appeared poised for a winning run around the far turn but flattened to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Instant Coffee. 

“We were thrilled. We thought he ran well,” Terranova said. “Florent was very pleased with him. He looked like a winner from the three-eighths pole to the quarter-pole. He was just galloping all over and as soon as he gave him his head, which is typical of a turf-type of horse, he couldn’t quicken up and spun his wheels. He only got beaten a little over three lengths. It just wasn’t his race - had he taken to the dirt a little better, there’s no telling. He had a handful of horse at the top of the stretch. He’s a superstar turf horse and we’re looking forward to next season.”

Terranova said the son of freshman stallion Collected will likely regroup and focus on turf races in the New Year, but Terranova did not rule out the possibility of trying synthetic surfaces with the bay colt.

Owned by Gatsas Stables, R.A. Hill Stable and Steven Schoenfeld, Freedom Trail is out of the War Front mare Freedom, who is a half-sibling to multiple Grade 1-winners Hoppertunity and Executiveprivilege.

Terranova also stated that Grade 1-placed New York-bred You’re My Girl, owned by Gatsas Stables, R.A. Hill Stable and Hidden Brook Farm, is getting a freshening following a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 4 at Keeneland, and will join Terranova’s winter string at Tampa Bay Downs in the New Year. 

“She’s getting a little vacation but she should be back in training soon,” Terranova said. “We aren’t too sure what we’re aiming for at the beginning of the new season, but she’ll come down to Florida with us and train down there. We’ll figure out what’s best to get started back in the New Year.”

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Aqueduct fall meet Week 6 stakes probables

Saturday, December 10

$120K Garland of Roses

Probable: Beguine (Edward Allard), Disco Ebo (Robert Reid, Jr.), Hot Peppers (Rudy Rodriguez), Smash Ticket (Rob Atras) 

Possible: Dontletsweetfoolya (Lacey Gaudet)