The $500,000, Grade 2 Cigar Mile Handicap Saturday at Aqueduct offers one final opportunity for accomplished and aspiring stakes horses to compete in a marquee dirt mile race before the calendar turns to 2026. Held around one turn, the Cigar Mile has long been an important race in the dirt mile division since its inaugural running in 1988 when Forty Niner won what was then called the NYRA Mile Handicap. Subsequent winners of note include Rubiano (1991), Cigar (1994, for whom the race was renamed), Congaree (2002, 2003), Tonalist (2015), Maximum Security (2019), Mind Control (2022), and last year's winner Locked (2024).

This year’s renewal drew an up-and-coming seven-horse field. Aqueduct's Saturday card will be televised live on the “America’s Day at the Races” broadcasts on FS1 and FS2. Post time for the Cigar Mile is set for 3:37 p.m. ET and it will be televised on FS2.

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The 11-race program will also include New York’s important juvenile features, the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes for 2-year-old males and the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, plus the Grade 3 Elite Power Stakes and a pair of half-million-dollar New York Stallion Series races.

Read on for information about the Cigar Mile contenders with some handicapping insights:

Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand

1. Doc Sullivan (5-1 morning-line odds)

Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.

Trainer: John Ortiz

Owner: Tristar Farm

Career record: 19 starts – 6 wins – 6 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $657,840

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 109

Pedigree: Solomini – Queen Frostline, by Giant’s Causeway

Age: 4

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: New York-bred exits a big win vs. state-breds in a $121,250 New York Stallion Series race at seven furlongs. Doc Sullivan has been in the money in 14 of his 19 lifetime starts and has not been embarrassed at all in prior graded stakes forays, including when fourth in this year’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes and Grade 3 Vosburgh Stakes Presented by Army Mule, beaten by less than three lengths both times. He has raced at a variety of trips and just missed by a neck in second two races ago going 1 1/8 miles in the $250,000 Empire Classic Stakes, but he seems best at middle distances like seven furlongs or one mile. Regular jockey Joel Rosario jumps ship to take the mount on Cigar Mile entrant Phileas Fogg, however, and that certainly can’t be considered a positive factor. A closer look at Doc Sullivan’s past performances reveals a horse that has run the majority of his career-best efforts on wet tracks with most of his top speed figures coming on wet surfaces, including both of his wins this year. He has been in tremendous form all season for trainer John Ortiz but realistically his best chance for anything more than a minor placing would be in rainy conditions. Sunny skies are in the Aqueduct forecast on Saturday.

Bet Doc Sullivan in the Cigar Mile

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club

2. Mika (12-1)

Jockey: Manny Franco

Trainer: Mike Maker

Owner: Nice Guys Stables

Career record: 7 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $114,684

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 108

Pedigree: Catholic Boy – History Supreme, by Speightstown

Age: 3

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Pacesetter

Notable achievements and interesting facts: The lone 3-year-old in the seven-horse field enters this race in career-best form coming off back-to-back big Mid-Atlantic wins at Delaware Park and Laurel Park by a combined margin of 23 ½ lengths. Three-year-olds have a solid history in the Cigar Mile with eight 3-year-old winners the last 20 editions, including Locked last year. Mika’s big recent wins came while in the barn of trainer Brittany Russell and now Mika has been transferred back to the care of trainer Mike Maker, where he started his career last year. Speed has been the name of the game for him and he is very likely to be sent to the lead in this spot, so his chances will hinge on whether or not he can go all the way. That will be a tough task, however, with both of the favorites, Phileas Fogg and Bishops Bay, hot on his tail. Mika has been extremely impressive in his two-race winning streak going two turns and his speed figure leaped into competitive stakes race territory last time, but the water is about get a whole lot deeper in the Cigar Mile facing some quality stakes horses and proven one-turn specialists.

Bet Mika in the Cigar Mile

Coglianese Photos

3. Pentathlon (10-1)

Jockey: Junior Alvarado

Trainer: Shug McGaughey

Owners: Phipps Stable, St Elias Stable, and Woodford Racing

Career record: 14 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 3 thirds

Career earnings: $241,352

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 102

Pedigree: Speightstown – Parade, by Tapit

Age: 4

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Earned his career-best Equibase Speed Figure last time out in a good-looking, 3 ¼-length win at this track and distance in an allowance-optional claiming race, so you can’t blame the connections for taking a shot against stakes company in this spot, which, let’s face it, is far from the best Cigar Mile field that has ever been assembled. Trainer Shug McGaughey won this race for the Phipps family way back in 1996 with Gold Fever, and jockey Junior Alvarado also will be going for his second Cigar Mile win this year after winning the race in 2013 aboard Flat Out. McGaughey took the blinkers off Pentathlon last time, which helped lead to the horse’s big positive turnaround. While this will be Pentathlon’s stakes debut, his best races have come at one mile and his best speed figures aren’t too far off what the race favorites typically run. Should sit a good up-close stalking trip and could land a spot in the money.

Bet Pentathlon in the Cigar Mile

Eclipse Sportswire

4. Crazy Mason (7-2)

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Trainer: Gregory Sacco

Owners: Donna Wright and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing

Career record: 17 starts – 5 wins – 3 seconds – 4 thirds

Career earnings: $524,470

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 111

Pedigree: Coal Front – Izshelegal, by Maria’s Mon

Age: 4

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Won this year’s Grade 2 Carter Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets going seven furlongs on this track and has put together a solid 2025 campaign, yet he remains mostly unheralded despite good credentials, including a runner-up finish most recently in the Grade 3 Vosburgh Stakes Presented by Army Mule. Perhaps his lack of strong Beyer Speed Figures is why his form doesn’t garner a ton of respect. Unlike the Beyer numbers, however, the Equibase Speed Figures rank his Carter Stakes win (107) and his third-place finish behind Book’em Danno and Mullikin in the Grade 3 True North Stakes (111) in June right there with the other favorites in this race. Crazy Mason has a legitimate chance, but as a deep closer he’ll probably need a pace meltdown in order to win. Realistically, that scenario is plausible with both Phileas Fogg and Bishops Bay needing to do the dirty work keeping tabs on the speedy Mika up front. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is fresh off a Churchill Downs fall riding title, has been leading rider all over the map this year, and probably is on his way to another Eclipse Award. Ortiz picks up the mount and will try to add a career-first Cigar Mile victory to his trophy cabinet.

Bet Crazy Mason in the Cigar Mile

BENOIT photo

5. Brazenly (30-1)

Jockey: John Velazquez

Trainer: Chris Englehart

Owners: Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, and Richard Steier

Career record: 39 starts – 4 wins – 9 seconds – 9 thirds

Career earnings: $294,582

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 107

Pedigree: Grazen – Sweet Boss, by Street Boss

Age: 7

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker/Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Brazenly joins the barn of Chris Englehart, who will now be this horse’s third different trainer this year. Brazenly has been solid but not spectacular in his most recent races, which were third-place finishes at the Del Mar and Belmont at the Big A meets, and this race will represent a significant class rise for this veteran of 39 career starts who has yet to compete in a graded stakes race. Perhaps the lone selling point in Brazenly’s favor is that he picks up the services of jockey John Velazquez, who is tied for the most wins by a jockey in the history of this race with five including a current three-year Cigar Mile winning streak thanks to Mind Control (2022), Hoist the Gold (2023), and Locked (2024).

Bet Brazenly in the Cigar Mile

Eclipse Sportswire

6. Phileas Fogg (9-5)

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Trainer: Gustavo Rodriguez

Owners: Jupiter Stable

Career record: 20 starts – 9 wins – 5 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $796,773

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 110

Pedigree: Astern– Merino, by More Than Ready

Color: Bay

Running style: Pacesetter

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Won this year’s Grade 2 Suburban Stakes Presented by Subourbon at 1 ¼ miles atop the likes of 2025 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Antiquarian and 2024 Cigar Mile winner Locked and comes into this race on a streak of nine straight in-the-money finishes, not counting his disqualification in the JCGC. Notably, he did rebound nicely from that DQ when he finished second by three-quarters of a length last time behind Locked in the Grade 2 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct, where he led much of the way until getting passed late in that 1 1/8-mile race. According to the Beyer Speed Figures, Phileas Fogg’s Suburban (104) and JCGC (105) were the top speed figures earned by any of the horses in this year’s Cigar Mile field, and he looms large against this bunch based on that. The big question for Phileas Fogg will be this one-mile distance. After all, he has run well earlier in his career at a mile, but this year has been strictly a two-turn horse going long. This fact is clearly not lost on his connections, who add blinkers and Joel Rosario to his arsenal to gear up for this race. Will it be enough to keep up with Mika and Bishops Bay on the front end? And if he does get the lead under those circumstances, will he have anything left to hold off a late challenge from Crazy Mason? If any of the speedsters in this race can do it, it’s him.

Bet Phileas Fogg in the Cigar Mile

Coglianese Photos/Joe Labozzetta

7. Bishops Bay (2-1)

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Trainer: Brad Cox

Owner: KAS Stables

Career record: 12 starts – 8 wins – 3 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $702,800

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 111

Pedigree: Uncle Mo – Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile

Color: Bay

Running style: Pacesetter/press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Bishops Bay is a winner of five of his last six races with the three most recent wins all coming at this one-mile distance, including two wins at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes in May and last time out in the Grade 3 Forty Niner Stakes Nov. 2. It’s unclear, however, if any of the horses Bishops Bay beat in those races were as good or as battle-tested against top company as Phileas Fogg, and it should be noted that when Bishops Bay faced Crazy Mason in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga he finished 2 ½ lengths behind that rival in sixth. This year’s top speed figures (103 Beyer and 111 Equibase) were earned four races ago in the Westchester, and while those numbers are imposing, he hasn’t duplicated them in te more recent starts and there has been a noticeable dip in his figures in his last two races, indicating that others in this field who will go off at better odds might have better current form. Trainer Brad Cox wins wherever he goes and rider Flavien Prat has been the dominant jockey at the current Aqueduct meet, so Bishops Bay has top connections in his corner. He looms one of the top three contenders in this year’s Cigar Mile, with the only knock on him being that his true chances to win might not match his expected low odds on the tote board.

Bet Bishops Bay in the Cigar Mile