Bishops Bay goes for graded double in G2 Cigar Mile H.

KAS Stables’ recently-acquired Bishops Bay will look to double up on graded wins at Aqueduct Racetrack when taking on Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap for 3-year-olds and up.

The Cigar Mile [Race 10] is one of six stakes races on Saturday’s 11-race card, which includes a pair of Grade 2, $250,000 tilts for juveniles with the Remsen in Race 9 and the Demoiselle for fillies in Race 3. The card also features the Grade 3, $250,000 Elite Power in Race 5 and two $500,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series events at seven furlongs for eligible state-sired juveniles in the Great White Way [Race 11] and Fifth Avenue for fillies [Race 8]. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Trained by dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, Bishops Bay makes his first start for KAS Stables after the Saudi Arabian-based owner purchased him for a sale-topping $1.3 million on November 12 at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale. Just 10 days prior, the 5-year-old Uncle Mo bay notched his third Grade 3 win of the year with a prominent three-quarter-length score over Nelson Avenue in the Forty Niner over Saturday’s course and distance.

“It was a solid run and we had been pointing for that race since Saratoga,” Cox said. “He’s a good-training horse and we thought he was going to run well, and he did. We’ve been pointing for this ever since. He’s a multiple graded stakes winner and a beautiful horse, so hopefully we can add to it on Saturday.”

The Forty Niner came in his first effort in more than two months, previously finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Forego on August 23 at Saratoga Race Course, where he cut back to shorter than one mile for the first time since his career debut and stumbled at the start. That effort was the only time he has finished worse than second in 12 lifetime outings, and came on the back of a pair of Grade 3 scores over wet tracks in the local one-mile Westchester in May and Monmouth Park’s Salvator Mile in June.

Cox said Bishops Bay has trained forwardly at Belmont Park under the watchful eye of assistant trainer Dustin Dugas.

“He’s done well and he likes it there in New York,” Cox said. “He’s been there basically since the spring and has trained well there at Belmont. He’s run well this year and we’re looking forward to giving him a shot here in the Cigar Mile. He’s always been a good work horse ever since he was a 2-year-old and he seems to be doing as well as he ever has.”

Bishops Bay flashed his talents as a sophomore, winning his first two starts before a pair of Grade 3 seconds when a head back of subsequent Champion 3-Year-Old Colt Arcangelo in the Peter Pan at Belmont Park and behind Two Phil’s in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown. The colt did not return for another 17 months, but did so victoriously last November at Horseshoe Indianapolis before heading to Oaklawn Park to commence his current campaign.

Cox added he is grateful for the opportunity to continue training Bishops Bay after his recent purchase, which was made with Middle Eastern aspirations in mind.

“It’s nice that these owners stepped up and bought him for big money and kept him with us,” Cox said. “Hopefully we can do some good for them, and we’re looking forward to Saturday. We’ll see how things go, but we’ll try to get him to the Middle East and Saudi in February. One step at a time, but if he performs well Saturday, we’ll take that next step.”

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Bishops Bay has banked $702,800 through a 12-8-3-0 record. He initially sold for $450,000 as a yearling, and boasts an additional stakes victory in this year’s restricted American Pharoah at Oaklawn.

Flavien Prat will ride from post 7 carrying a co-field-high 125 pounds.

Graded stakes-winner Crazy Mason [post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 124 pounds] returns to the scene of his neck score in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets in April for trainer Gregg Sacco.

Campaigned by Donna Wright and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the 4-year-old Coal Front colt utilized his signature deep-closing style to wear down Quint’s Brew in the lane and notch his first graded win. Since then, the consistent gray has hit the board in 3-of-4 efforts, including a 1 3/4-length third to Book’em Danno in the Grade 1 Forego.

Crazy Mason enters from a fast-finishing second in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Vosburgh presented by Army Mule on September 27 here, landing 1 1/2 lengths back of the victorious Patriot Spirit. He will contest a distance beyond sprinting for the first time since finishing a distant third in the one-mile and 70-yard Long Branch around two turns last May at Monmouth Park.

“It’s a nice, tight competitive field. It’s going to be a tough task, but we are ready for the challenge,” Sacco said. “He’s gone seven-eighths, he’s gone two turns, which is not his game, but I think the one-turn mile should be within his scope. Certainly looked like it the way he galloped out in races going seven furlongs.”

Sacco said he has had the Cigar Mile circled since the Vosburgh.

“We skipped the Forty Niner to give him a little freshener after the Vosburgh,” Sacco said. “Just wanted to have him as sharp as he could be going into his last race of the season here. Everything has gone according to plan. His appetite, energy levels have been good, we are looking forward to a good effort on Saturday.” 

Jupiter Stable’s Phileas Fogg [post 6, Joel Rosario, 125 pounds, blinkers ON] looks to return to winning ways after a three-quarter-length second to last year’s Cigar Mile-winner Locked in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Woodward on September 27.

Trained by Gustavo Rodriguez, the 5-year-old Astern gelding set the pace in the three-horse Woodward field and was collared late by the dual Grade 1-winning Locked. That effort saw him earn a 97 Beyer Speed Figure compared to a career-high 105 he was awarded one start prior in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in August at Saratoga Race Course when crossing the wire third before being disqualified and unplaced.

Phileas Fogg holds a 5-3-2-0 record at the Big A, led by route stakes victories in the nine-furlong Listed Queens County last December and the 10-furlong Listed Excelsior in April. He then finished a three-quarter-length second to Awesome Aaron in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special, but broke through in his next attempt when providing Rodriguez with his first graded win in this year’s Grade 2 Suburban presented by Subourbon in July at Saratoga Race Course.

Each of Phileas Fogg’s last seven outings have come around two turns, and his last effort going this distance was a 3 3/4 lengths optional claiming win last September here. Since being haltered by Rodriguez for $62,500 out of a turf optional claimer last July, Phileas Fogg has hit the board in 8-of-9 starts, his lone blemish the aforementioned Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“He’s doing beautiful and I’ll work him one more time,” Rodriguez said. “I think he’ll be OK with the cutback. A mile and an eighth or a mile and a quarter is better for him, but it is what it is. He won here going one mile, and I know it wasn’t a stakes race, but he ran good that day. We gave him a little break, and now it’s showtime.”

Completing the field are multiple stakes-winning New York-bred Doc Sullivan [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr., 120 pounds], a last-out winner of the local seven-furlong NYSSS Thunder Rumble for trainer John Ortiz; Mika [post 2, Manny Franco, 114 pounds], who has won his last two starts by a combined 23 1/2 lengths for trainer Mike Maker; last-out allowance-winner Pentathlon [post 3, Junior Alvarado, 118 pounds], who makes his stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; and Brazenly [post 5, John Velazquez], a four-time winner who makes his graded debut for trainer Chris Englehart.

Originally named the NYRA Mile Handicap, the Cigar Mile is named for the race’s 1994 winner and subsequent Hall of Famer, and has served as a prestigious year-end goal for racing’s elite 3-year-olds and up since 1988. 

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