Sharp Azteca Seeks Elusive Grade 1 in Cigar Mile

Ivan Rodriguez's Sharp Azteca is not a grade 1 winner, but trainer Jorge Navarro has heard it enough.

"People assume, because of these performances, that he's a grade 1 winner," Navarro said. "Every time, he shows up and runs his hardest."

The reality is—to go along with his impressive graded scores in the 2016 Pat Day Mile (G3), and the Hardacre Mile Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2), Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3), and Kelso Handicap (G2) this season—Sharp Azteca has played runner-up in a trio of top-level events, but the last one Nov. 3 may have been most brutal.

Shipping into Southern California for the second time in his career, the son of Freud  showed up once again and set the pace, but was just passed in the final stages by longshot Battle of Midway  in the Las Vegas Breeders Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Del Mar. It was reminiscent of his first trip to California, when he just got caught late by Mind Your Biscuits in the 2016 Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

BALAN: Battle of Midway Breaks Through in BC Dirt Mile

That elusive grade 1 prize will once again be on the table Dec. 2, when Sharp Azteca takes on fellow Breeders' Cup runners Mind Your Biscuits and Practical Joke  in the one-turn Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"It's very important for us to get a grade 1 for him—as a stallion prospect and to get that respect," Navarro said. "Why not a horse like him? He deserves it."

While Mind Your Biscuits has two wins at the top level in less than a year—along with the Malibu, he won the March 25 Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1)—the Posse colt's form slipped a bit Aug. 26, when he finished sixth in the Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He came back to finish a closing third, just three lengths off winner Roy H, in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).

The 3-year-old Practical Joke, whose three grade 1 wins came in the 2016 Champagne and Hopeful stakes and the Aug. 26 H. Allen Jerkens, faced older horses for the first time in the Dirt Mile and came in fourth, 5 1/4 lengths behind Battle of Midway.

Another Cigar Mile entrant who raced on Breeders' Cup weekend was Kaleem Shah's Americanize, who impressively won the seven-furlong Damascus Stakes on the Nov. 3 undercard over grade 1-placed sprinters Mr. Hinx and Kobe's Back .

HAMMONDS: Americanize Earns His Stripes in Damascus

The Simon Callaghan-trained homebred son of Concord Point may have turned a corner with an Oct. 7 optional-claiming allowance win at Santa Anita, which snapped a five-race winless streak that featured four second-place finishes.

"He's been a much-improved horse his last couple of starts," Callaghan said. "He's getting really good right now and we really like the one-turn mile for him. Obviously it's a very competitive race. He's always been a really talented horse, even when you go back to races before I had him, and then he kinda took a little time to get going this summer. It's all playing out and definitely his last two races have been breakout races."

The other last-out stakes winner in the field is GMB Racing's Tom's Ready , who stormed home from ninth to win the Oct. 28 Bold Ruler Handicap (G3) at Belmont Park for trainer Dallas Stewart.

Entries: Cigar Mile H. Presented by NYRA Bets (G1)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, December 02, 2017, Race 10

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

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mind Your Biscuits (NY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Chad Summers	5/1
2	2Seymourdini (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	Linda Rice	6/1
3	3Just Call Kenny (VA)	Forest Boyce	115	Patrick B. McBurney	30/1
4	4Tom's Ready (PA)	Mike E. Smith	118	Dallas Stewart	8/1
5	5Americanize (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	116	Simon Callaghan	12/1
6	6Sharp Azteca (KY)	Javier Castellano	125	Jorge Navarro	2/1
7	7Vulcan's Forge (KY)	Luis Saez	114	Todd A. Pletcher	20/1
8	8Practical Joke (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Chad C. Brown	7/2
9	9Summer Revolution (KY)	Manuel Franco	114	Rudy R. Rodriguez	15/1
10	10Beasley (KY)	Junior Alvarado	114	Mark A. Hennig	12/1