The Cigar Mile Handicap (Grade 1)- $500.000 Purse
AQU- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile on the Dirt
December 5, 2020

After winning the Cigar Mile Handicap last year, the great Splash Mountain had gone winless, despite still running well. A good cure for rediscovering your winning ways can be to revisit a race that you once were able to win, and for Splash Mountain that would prove to be what it took to get back to the winners circle. This horse has made a habit of that over his outstanding career, but he was in jeopardy of going all of 2020 without such a trip. He was still a BC caliber horse, running in the BC Dirt Mile, and his winless streak is more a testament to how tough some of the biggest races are to win. Now, we shall see what next year holds for him. The winning trainer is John Henry again, his second win in the race. Aboard the winner was D E Centeno, and he wins for the first time. Congratulations to them! The time of the race was 1:34.32, just .02 off the winning time from last year. Let’s take a look!

(¼ Mile- :23.26)- The start of the race sees two horses vie for the lead gamely right from the gate, with a third one joining in soon after. Emerging as the early leader is Scafati, out of Fractious, who earns the spot after a battle with John Henry’s Range Of The Sun. From the outside, Ice Wall soon joins in for RNP Stables. These three open up a two length lead over a group of four who are all running side by side. Our eventual winner, John Henry’s Splash Mountain, is part of this group, running in the third lane, with Jolly Rook (Angelos Stable) to hsi outside. On the rail here is Broken Tap (Arindel), with Spirited Stride (Mb Stables) next to him. Behind them, you have another group of three a length back, consisting of Stark (D J C Racing Stables), Tallmadge Star (Oquinn Farm), and Burning Approval (Mb Stables). A couple lengths further back are the trailers, So Profound (Asgar), and the post time favorite, Space Commander (Nakamura Stables).

(½ Mile- :46.10)- In the backstretch, the order of things does see some shuffling around before we reach the turn. Ice Wall would continue his outside move and take command of the race lead, doing so by a length over Scafati. The other horse that was involved in the early running, Range Of The Sun, would back off that pursuit, and by doing so that would break up the group of four that had been running behind them. The two who had been on the inside there, Broken Tap and Spirited Stride, were able to maintain their positions, but both Splash Mountain and Jolly Rock would be pushed back a little bit. Those two would now run with Stark and Tallmadge Star, the two that had been the inside horses of the group behind them, and they trailed by four and a half lengths. Space Commander and So Profound would be joined by Burning Approval in the back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Ice Wall remains the leader, for now, round the turn, but what was going on behind them was very interesting and quite chaotic. At this point, you could really throw the whole field together within a length and a half of one another. Spirited Stride was fortunate to have the edge over the tight wad of horses coming together. Clearly, a furlong and a half dash was coming and it would be all about who would have the better lane for it. Splash Mountain seemed to be in a good position here, running five wide with a strong run coming. Though, with one of our classic cluster finishes about to happen, you can’t rule out anyone except tiring pacesetters like Scafati.

(Finish- 1:34.32)- With a furlong to go, the field looked much like it could when horses are released from the starting gate. Splash Mountain was looking a little better than the others were here, but Spirited Stride was also running well, and had the advantage of behind just ahead of the pack of horses when the craziness began. Splash Mountain kept on pressing, digging in deep to that form that once won him the BC Classic, and he would end up getting a narrow win over the second place, Stark, who had one of his good days. Spirited Stride settles for a third place dead heat over his late running stablemate, making Mb Stables have to split the third place check with himself. Fifth to So Profound, then Space Commander, Ice Wall, and Broken Tap. That’s where the line seems to be drawn with horses that all could have won this race with a little better luck. Rounding it out, it is Range Of The Sun, the disappointing Tallmadge Star, Jolly Rook, and Scafati.

About The Winner- Splash Mountain, trained by John Henry, and ridden to victory by D E Centeno, is a five year old gelding by Ned Isakoff, and is out of Sneaky Alessandra. He was bred in New Jersey by Smokey Stover as a second quarter two year old, and acquired by John Henry in June 2018 for just $20.000. The win is his eighth in 34 starts, and his fifth stake win, all of which are graded, and four are Grade 1’s. His career earnings are now $6,499.660.

Track: Fast
Time: :23¹  :46   1:09²  1:34¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 5 – 4 Paid 156.40
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 4 – 2 Paid 826.70, 5 – 4 – 7 Paid 826.70

Scratched: For The Boys

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES