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Multiple Grade 1 winners Mind Your Biscuits, Practical Joke lead 17 nominations for G1 Cigar Mile

by NYRA Press Office

New York-bred multi-millionaire Mind Your Biscuits and 3-year-old one-turn sensation Practical Joke top a competitive group of 17 nominated to the 29th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by NYRA Bets, scheduled for December 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Cigar Mile, the cornerstone of the Aqueduct fall meet, will headline a stakes-packed day of racing at the Big A, also featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen for 2-year-olds, Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Go For Wand Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile.

The New York-bred Horse of the Year in 2016, Mind Your Biscuits was a late-running third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint last time out for trainer Chad Summers and boasts victories in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen and Grade 2 Belmont Sprint this year. The 4-year-old Posse colt is 6-6-3 in 18 career starts for more than $2.3 million in career earnings.

Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens hero Practical Joke, undefeated in five tries around one turn, is one of two nominees from trainer Chad Brown, who won his first Cigar Mile in 2016 with Connect. The sophomore colt by Into Mischief put in a strong fourth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Brown has also nominated Economic Model, eighth in last year's Cigar Mile and winner of an optional claimer on October 12.

Slated to stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm in 2018, Tom's Ready is expected to make a return appearance in New York following his three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap on October 28 at Belmont Park for trainer Dallas Stewart.

Also among the nominees to the Cigar Mile are Grade 2 Kelso Handicap winner Sharp Azteca, who finished a close second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile; Summer Revolution, who returned from a 10-month layoff to record a two-length victory against optional-claiming company for trainer Rudy Rodriguez; impressive State Dinner winner Seymourdini, who is also entered in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight on Thanksgiving Day; and a pair of nominees from four-time Cigar Mile winner Todd Pletcher in Grade 2 Fayette runner-up Neolithic and the hard-knocking Vulcan's Forge.

Weights for Cigar Mile contenders will be published on Sunday, November 26. Full nominations for all Cigar Mile Day stakes are available at www.nyra.com/aqueduct/horsemen.