No Stopping Hoist the Gold in Cigar Mile
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Hoist the Gold wins the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack
The well-traveled Hoist the Gold made his first trip to the Big A a successful one with an electrifying performance in the Dec. 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2).
In his first race back since a disappointing sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), Hoist the Gold dictated the 12-horse field through blazing early fractions and never looked back on his way to a 4 1/2-length victory. Relentless to the wire, he stopped the timer in 1:34.28 for the mile over a muddy Aqueduct main track that had remained sealed.
"At the eighth pole, he kicked in another gear and got in front of them some more," trainer Dallas Stewart said of his stable star. "He made that separation, and that's the sign of a good horse. I just hate that they took the grade 1 away, but he showed he's a good horse, and we'll take the $500,000 and head down the road."
The Cigar Mile was downgraded to a grade 2 event for the first time since it was awarded grade 1 status by the American Graded Stakes Committee in 1990.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez initially suggested the Cigar Mile as a target for Hoist the Gold. The 4-year-old son of Mineshaft had never won beyond seven furlongs in any of his 25 prior starts to the Cigar Mile. He had raced in the six-furlong Breeders' Cup after earning an automatic berth with his victory over the same distance in Phoenix Stakes (G2) in October at Keeneland.
"Johnny (Velazquez) picked the right race for us," said Stewart. "He told us at Breeders' Cup the horse doesn't like dirt in his face. He said, 'Just let me ride him the way I want—run him a mile at Aqueduct, and he won't get beat.' He was 100% right."
The connections of Hoist the Gold in the trophy presentation for the Cigar Mile
Multiple graded stakes winner Senor Buscador , also a son of Mineshaft, made his trademark late run on the far outside but could only settle for second in his first run back since a fifth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
"He fell back. I didn't want to change his running style; I let it be," jockey Junior Alvarado said of Senor Buscador. "At the turn, I started picking it up. I tried to see if I could find any room between horses on the inside, and there was nothing. There were just too many horses there, so I had to swing outside and I knew at that point I was running for second, but I had to still give it a try. He was game. The track was against him today, and he still put up a good effort."
Castle Chaos , away at 32-1, ran evenly to grab third. Favored Everso Mischievous , steadied three furlongs into the race, did not fire thereafter and was 11th.
Record and Pedigree
A homebred for Dream Team Racing, Hoist the Gold took his earnings to over $1.1 million with his second graded win. The colt, produced from the Tapit mare Tacit Approval , has a record of 5-6-3 from 26 starts.
Hoist the Gold is sired by Mineshaft , who has had seven stakes winners in 2023. Mineshaft, a son of A.P. Indy, will stand the 2024 breeding season at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Ky., for a fee of $10,000.