Maximum Security, Spun to Run Headline Cigar Mile

In the years to come, it will take some wild twists of fate for another horse to have as controversial and eventful of a season as Maximum Security.

A year ago at this time, Gary and Mary West's homebred colt was about two weeks away from making his career debut in the obscure setting of a $16,000 maiden claiming race at Gulfstream Park.

In the ensuing 12 months, becoming the first horse to be disqualified from first for a racetrack foul in the 145-year history of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) was just part of Maximum Security's saga. A major part, for sure, but a part nonetheless of 12 madcap months.

"It's been a crazy year, that's for sure," trainer Jason Servis said.

In a campaign that played out like a soap opera, Maximum Security rose to grade 1 status in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1). After the Derby debacle, he won the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), a race delayed for several hours and contested at twilight on a day with near 100-degree temperatures.

He missed the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) because of fatigue. He suffered a bout of colic that forced him to scratch out of the Pennsylvania Derby (G1). He won the Bold Ruler Handicap (G3), a seven-furlong sprint against older horses, by 1 3/4 lengths in his most recent start. 

And yet, at the end of such a turbulent year, the West's homebred 3-year-old enters his final race of 2019 in a position to strengthen his claim for an Eclipse Award as the best of his division.

On Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack, Maximum Security will bid for a third grade 1 victory this year when he takes on Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Spun to Run and nine others in the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1).

For all that turbulence in the past 12 months, what might be the most remarkable part of all is that Servis believes the son of New Year's Day is coming into Saturday's race in rare form.

"I'm a little superstitious and I don't want to jinx myself, but he's doing great," Servis said.

Gary West is also brimming with confidence over a race that will serve as a springboard into the colt's 4-year-old campaign.

"Jason says the horse is doing as well as he has all year long," West said, "and that says a lot."

West is also aware that Maximum Security, the 122-pound highweight, will need to be at his best against a quality field that grew to double digits despite the presence of grade 1-winning 3-year-olds.

"It's the first time he's taken on older grade 1 horses, and it came up with more horses and better horses than I thought," he said. "It's always a good race, but I think this is going to be a very good race."

Though Maximum Security has yet to race at a mile in an eight-race career with six wins, he has been remarkably versatile. He's won at distances of six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, and he did cross the wire first in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby.

"He has speed he can carry over long distances, and that makes him dangerous at any distance," said West, who intends to appeal a federal judge's recent decision to uphold Maximum Security's disqualification.

Though Maximum Security competed in just one Triple Crown race and missed both the Travers and Breeders' Cup, West hopes to make up for those missed opportunities in 2020. If all goes well Saturday, the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park will be next. And while West has little interest in heading overseas for either the Saudi Cup or the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), he can envision running his homebred in an array of major American races.

"No one knows how this horse is doing better than Jason Servis," West said. "It took Maximum Security a long time to come around after the colic, and the Bold Ruler was a great spot for him timing-wise and the right distance to get him started. The Cigar is the logical distance after that, with the Pegasus our next goal.

"I know there's a lot of money in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, but we'll forgo the money to watch our horse run in America. Sometimes when horses go to Dubai, when they come back they are not the same horses," added West, whose West Coast  only raced twice in the following eight months, and lost twice, after finishing second in the 2018 Dubai World Cup. "My gut reaction is that we'll stay here and run in the major races in this country with the hyper-optimistic goal of the Breeders' Cup at the end of the year."

Getting through the Cigar with his Eclipse Award hopes intact will not be easy for Maximum Security, who will be meeting up again with Spun to Run. Though owner Robert Donaldson's son of Hard Spun  was third in the Haskell, finishing 9 1/4 lengths behind Maximum Security, he has blossomed in his past two races.

After taking the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile Stakes at Parx Racing by 6 3/4 lengths for trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero, Spun to Run recorded a 9-1 upset victory in the Dirt Mile, beating fellow 3-year-old and two-time grade 1 winner Omaha Beach  by 2 3/4 lengths. A victory in the Cigar Mile should, at the very least, be enough to put Spun to Run in the Eclipse Award mix.

"I couldn't give Spun to Run and his trainer more credit," West said. "If he runs a similar race to his effort in the Breeders' Cup, he'll be hard to beat."

Bought by Donaldson for $64,000 from de Meric Sales' consignment at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Spun to Run has earned $1,010,520 and will carry 120 pounds.

Aside from the two 3-year-olds who will break alongside each other (Maximum Security in post 5 and Spun to Run in post 6), the field also includes Robert LaPenta, Head of Plains Partners, and trainer Ron Moquett's $2,817,600 earner Whitmore (120 pounds), a 6-year-old Pleasantly Perfect gelding. Third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), he will be racing beyond seven furlongs for the first time since the 2016 Kentucky Derby.

The field also includes two starters from last year's Cigar Mile. 

Calumet Farm's True Timber was second a year ago to Patternrecognition but is winless in four 2019 starts. The Mineshaft  5-year-old was third in the Bold Ruler, 4 1/4 lengths behind Maximum Security.

The New York-bred Pat On the Back has been a gem for owners Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, and Nehoc Stables and trainer Jeremiah Englehart. Bought for $70,000 from the St George Sales consignment at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale, he has earned $1,138,832.

The Congrats  5-year-old was fifth in last year's Cigar but won the Kelso Handicap (G2) at a mile two starts back.

Charles Fipke's Tale of Silence enters the Cigar after rallying to finish second in the Bold Ruler at 23-1 odds.

Among the other starters, trainer Chad Brown, who won last year's Cigar, will try for a third win in four years with a pair of 3-year-olds in Klaravich Stable's Network Effect and Doheny Racing Stable, Thomas Coleman, Madaket Stables, and Long Lake Stable's Looking At Bikinis.

The Cigar (4:16 p.m. ET post time) is the richest of four graded stakes on Saturday's card. The others are the $250,000 Remsen Stakes (G2), $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes (G2), and $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap (G3). It will be the last of 10 races on a card that starts at 11:30 a.m.

Entries: Cigar Mile H. (G1)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, December 07, 2019, Race 10

• Grade I
• 1m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:16 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Whitmore (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Ron Moquett	8/1
2	2Bal Harbour (KY)	John R. Velazquez	117	Todd A. Pletcher	8/1
3	3Forewarned (OH)	Anthony Salgado	115	Uriah St. Lewis	30/1
4	4Pat On the Back (NY)	Dylan Davis	118	Jeremiah C. Englehart	15/1
5	5Maximum Security (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Jason Servis	3/2
6	6Spun to Run (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Juan Carlos Guerrero	5/2
7	7Nicodemus (KY)	Manuel Franco	117	Linda Rice	20/1
8	8Network Effect (FL)	Javier Castellano	115	Chad C. Brown	15/1
9	9Looking At Bikinis (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	114	Chad C. Brown	15/1
10	10Tale of Silence (KY)	Junior Alvarado	117	Barclay Tagg	20/1
11	11True Timber (KY)	Joe Bravo	116	Kiaran P. McLaughlin	15/1