Cigar Mile As 'Stallion Maker'

The racing adage "best milers make the best sires" has been pegged to the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I), and for good reason. The Met Mile, run traditionally on Memorial Day (until 2014) has been the proving ground for potential sire power for decades. However, there is another mile race on a holiday weekend that has also seen several of its winners continue their success in the stallion ranks.



The NYRA Mile (gr. I), later named the Cigar Mile in honor of the two-time Horse of the Year who died earlier this season, has produced its fair share of winners to go on as top sires, with three of the first four winners being either by Mr. Prospector or a grandson of Mr. Prospector.



And yes, there is some irony here in that Cigar himself proved infertile, but the proof is in the numbers.



The inaugural winner in 1988, when the race was run in mid-October serving as a prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), was Claiborne Farm's Forty Niner. The smallish son of Mr. Prospector—File, by Tom Rolfe, was the champion 2-year-old male of 1987 and won the NYRA Mile the following year in a hard-fought score by a neck over Shadwell Farm's Mawsuff and sprint champion Precisionist. Because of a jockey's strike at the time in New York, Forty Niner was ridden by Billy Fox instead of Laffit Pincay Jr.



After a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic behind Alysheba, rival Seeking the Gold, and Waquoit, Forty Niner retired to Claiborne where he became the leading freshman sire of 1992 by earnings and number of winners. While at the height of his game, he was sold by Claiborne to Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan, but not before leaving behind sons who would continue his legacy.

Distorted Humor, the leading sire of 2011 and the sire of 124 stakes winner, is a son of Forty Niner from the crop of '93 and his best son at stud. Distorted Humor has also sired 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes (both gr. I) winner Funny Cide and 2010 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and 2011 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Drosselmeyer, as well as Flower Alley, the sire of 2012 Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another.



In 1990, the third running of the NYRA Mile was taken by Sheikh Mohammed's Quiet American (Fappiano—Demure, by Dr. Fager) by 4 3/4 lengths over 1989 Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) winner Dancing Spree.



Quiet American, inbred 3x2 to Dr. Fager and 4x3 to the multiple stakes-producing mare Cequillo, went on to sire 58 stakes winners including Real Quiet, who won the Derby and Preakness in 1998 only to lose the Belmont in a photo finish. Real Quiet is the sire of leading third-crop sire Midnight Lute. Quiet American also gave us champion older female Hidden Lake, and Cara Rafaela, the grade I-winning dam of top sire Bernardini. Bernardini is the sire of 2011 Cigar Mile winner To Honor and Serve and 2012 winner Stay Thirsty.

Quiet American is also the broodmare sire of 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam.

Rubiano, sprint champion of 1992, won the 1991 NYRA Mile after running second earlier in the year in the Met Mile. At Aqueduct the son of Fappiano—Ruby Slippers, by Nijinsky II rallied from 10th to get up and edge Sultry Song for the win in 1:33 3/5. Centennial Farm's Rubiano would die prematurely in 2002 but was responsible for 33 stakes winners as a sire, and his family is among the hottest in the land. His half sister, Tap Your Heels (by Fappiano's Unbridled) is the dam of 2014 leading sire Tapit.



Following Cigar's score in 1995, the roster of winners to go on to be top stallions ebbed a bit, however Congaree was the back-to-back winner of the race in 2002-03 and his presence has been felt in 2014 as the sire of grade I winner Don't Tell Sophia and Jeranimo, the multiple grade I winner who embarks on his stud career in California in 2015.



Congaree (Arazi—Mari's Sheba, by Mari's Book) stands at Saratoga Stud near Stillwater, N.Y.



Discreet Cat (Forestry—Pretty Discreet, by Private Account), has stood at Darley near Lexington since taking the Cigar Mile in 2006. The sire of 20 stakes winners with four crops of racing age, Discreet Cat has excelled with a grade I winner on the grass in Discreet Marq, and a grade I-winning 2-year-old in Secret Compass.



Recent winners of the Cigar Mile that figure to break sharp from the gate with their progeny include:



2009 winner Kodiak Kowboy, who was among the leading first-crop sires of 2013.



2010 winner Jersey Town, by Speightstown, has 37 foals in his first crop (weanlings of 2014) and covered 66 mares this year.



2011 winner To Honor and Serve, who was among the leading first-crop sires of weanlings at Keeneland November with an average of $90,778; has 98 registered foals in his first crop, and had a book of 98 mares in 2014.

2012 winner Stay Thirsty, whose first-crop weanlings averaged $104,000 at Keeneland November; has 94 registered foals in his first crop, and had a book of 126 in 2014.



2013 winner Flat Out, a son of Flatter who covered 169 mares in his first book in 2014, the second most of his class.