Fast-Finishing Tonalist Strikes in Cigar Mile

Tonalist, outside, closed powerfully to win the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap on Saturday at Aqueduct. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
By Claire Novak, @BH_CNovak
Tonalist came flying with a big late run to win the $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 28, edging out Red Vine in a photo finish after rallying from far back under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.
The second choice in the field of six at odds of 2-1, the 4-year-old son of Tapit bounced back from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland to add another Grade 1 win to his résumé for trainer Christophe Clement and owner Robert Evans. Tonalist also owns victories in the 2014 Belmont Stakes and consecutive editions of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2014-2015.
The pace was set in the oddly run one-turn mile race by 2014 Cigar Mile winner Private Zone, who was extremely rank down the backstretch in his first start for trainer Brian Lynch. The TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, Private Zone faded to fifth after being throttled back by jockey Martin Pedroza through a slow :24.15 opening quarter-mile and a half-mile in :48.50.
Tonalist, who charged from last to first through three-quarters in 1:13.04, ran the mile in 1:37.14 on a fast track.
“I’m always a little bit worried when I run him,” said Clement, who collected his first Cigar Mile trophy. “The race was run in a funny way; they went so slow early on, which I didn’t think was great for us. But that’s what good horses do — they win and they overcome things.”
2015 CIGAR MILE REPLAY

Courtesy of NYRA
The finish gave Clement Stable its 100th win of the season and a lovely exacta. Clement also conditions Red Vine for Don and Joan Cimpl and Jon and Sarah Kelly. That runner put in a big effort off a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Las Vegas Dirt Mile when splitting horses late, but he could not get to Tonalist in time. Quickening through a remarkable :23.23 final quarter-mile, according to Trakus data, the bay runner swung five wide and turned on the afterburners straightening away for home to get the victory by a neck.
“I got anxious a little bit when we passed the half-mile pole,” Velazquez remarked. “We were going so slow on the backstretch and I could see the horse on the lead keep trying to get back, throwing his head up. ... I was thinking that we were just walking with these horses here. I was close enough I didn’t worry about it, but when we got to the turn, they started to move away from me.
“Now I wanted to do it little by little; I didn’t want to shake him up too much and then not get him going, so I got him little by little, where he was comfortable. By the five-sixteenths pole, he started moving so I said, ‘OK, now he’s moving.’ Another horse came to him by the quarter-pole, I don’t know who that was, and he got into the bridle and started running. My job was trying to put him in the clear, run him in the clear. When I got him clear and hit him, he responded right away. The last sixteenth of a mile was really good, very exciting.”
Tonalist returned $6.40 to win, $3.70 to place, and $2.70 to show while Red Vine paid $4.50 and $3.30. Edging out Mshawish for third by a neck was Matrooh.
The winner was bred in Kentucky by Woodslane Farm out of the Pleasant Colony mare Settling Mist and improved his record to seven wins, four seconds and two thirds from 16 starts for earnings of $3,647,000. He was purchased privately by Evans after failing to meet his reserve for $195,000 at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga select yearling sale when consigned by Sweezey & Partners.
With no stud deal currently set for Tonalist, Clement said he would talk to Evans about the multiple graded stakes winner’s future, but added of him and Red Vine: “no matter what, they’re both going to have a break.”
For an Equibase chart, click here.
TONALIST (outside) PREVAILED IN A THRILLING CIGAR MILE FINISH

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire