Maximum Security, Spun to Run Top Cigar Mile Probables

A field loaded with 3-year-olds is taking shape for the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1), but Omaha Beach  will not be among them.

Though the multiple grade 1 winner was among 19 nominees to the Dec. 7 stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, trainer Richard Mandella says Omaha Beach will be staying in California to point for the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1) against 3-year-olds Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park.

"It's been intended all along that he'll stay here and run in the Malibu," Mandella said about Fox Hill Farms' 3-year-old son of War Front . "It's mainly because I'm pointing to the ($9 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park) and I don't want him to travel back-and-forth across the country before then. He'll stay here for the Malibu."

A field of six is taking shape for the final grade 1 stakes of the year in New York, topped by two grade 1-winning 3-year-olds, Gary and Mary West's Maximum Security and Robert P. Donaldson's Spun to Run.

Fellow 3-year-olds Looking At Bikinis and Network Effect and the veteran campaigners Whitmore and True Timber are also among the prospective starters in the handicap for 3-year-olds and up.

The Cigar promises to have a major impact on Eclipse Award voting as Maximum Security is one of three 3-year-olds with two grade 1 wins in 2019. The homebred son of New Year's Day, best known for being disqualified from first to 17th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), owns victories in the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) and took the Bold Ruler Handicap (G3) against older horses in his most recent start for trainer Jason Servis.

Omaha Beach and William S. Farish's Code of Honor also have two grade 1 wins at 3 and loom as Maximum Security's chief rivals for the division championship.

Code of Honor, trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, posted grade 1 wins in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) plus victories in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth (G2) and Dwyer Stakes (G3). His résumé also includes a second in the Kentucky Derby, a third in the Florida Derby, and a seventh most recently in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). 

Omaha Beach won the Arkansas Derby (G1), the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1), and the Rebel Stakes (G2) before finishing second to Spun to Run in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in his last start.

Spun to Run, a Hard Spun  colt, posted a sharp 2 3/4-length victory in the Dirt Mile for his first grade 1 win. Third in the Haskell, he captured the Smarty Jones Stakes (G3) in September and then finished a close fifth in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1). Trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero prepped him for the Breeders' Cup in the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile Stakes at Parx Racing, where he posted a 6 3/4-length victory.

Long Lake Stables, Madaket Stables, Thomas Coleman, and Doheny Racing Stables' Looking At Bikinis is coming off a victory in an Oct. 4 allowance race at Keeneland. The son of Lookin At Lucky  was third earlier in the year in the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Klaravich Stables' Network Effect, a Mark Valeski  colt, won a Nov. 10 allowance race at Aqueduct in his first start in about 11 months since a runner-up finish in the 2018 Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct. 

Both Looking At Bikinis and Network Effect are trained by Chad Brown, who recently became the first trainer to top $30 million in North American earnings for one year. The three-time Eclipse Award winner has 2019 earnings of $30,136,510 through Nov. 24.

Robert LaPenta, Southern Springs Stables, and Head of Plains Partners' 6-year-old Pleasantly Perfect gelding Whitmore is coming off a third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). With 12 wins and nine seconds in 30 career starts and earnings of $2,817,600, he will be making his first start beyond seven furlongs since he finished 19th in the 2016 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. 

Calumet Farm's True Timber, a Mineshaft  5-year-old, was third behind Maximum Security in the Bold Ruler in his last start and was the runner-up in last year's Cigar Mile.