Cigar Mile Winner Sharp Azteca Retired
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Joe Labozzetta
Sharp Azteca wins the 2017 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack
Nine months after his last appearance, an eighth-place finish in the Jan. 27 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park, grade 1 winner Sharp Azteca has been retired.
A 5-year-old son of Freud who notched his top-level win in the 2017 Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), Sharp Azteca earned $2,406,740 through 17 starts, with an 8-5-1 record. Bred by Cloyce C. Clark Jr. out of the Saint Liam mare So Sharp, he was a $220,000 purchase by Ivan Rodriguez Gelfenstein's Gelfenstein Farm from De Meric Sales' consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales 2015 Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He was a $35,000 pinhook by Blas Perez via Select Sales at the 2014 OBS August Yearlings Sale.
Trained by Jorge Navarro throughout his career, Sharp Azteca won the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs and the City of Laurel Stakes at Laurel Park in 2016, and the Hardacre Mile Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2), Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park, and Kelso Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park in 2017 before his final win, a 5 1/4-length romp in the Dec. 2 Cigar Mile over Mind Your Biscuits at Aqueduct Racetrack. He was also third in the Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Meydan Sobha (G2) at Meydan in March last year.
The Pegasus World Cup was Sharp Azteca's lone start of 2018, when Gelfenstein partnered with Martin Scharf, Ashley Quartarolo, and Loooch Racing Stables.
For now, Sharp Azteca will remain at Gelfenstein Farm in Ocala, Fla. No decision has been made regarding a stallion career.
"It has been an honor for me to train a horse like Sharp Azteca," Navarro said. "He's the type of horse that every trainer wants to have in his barn. ... From the first day I saw Sharp Azteca, I knew that he was a special horse. Together we managed to compete at the highest level at 10 different racetracks.
"I would like to thank Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Scharf for entrusting me with the care of Sharp Azteca, a horse that I will always carry in my heart. I'm pretty sure that, just as he was a brilliant runner, he will also be an extraordinary stallion."