There may be some questions about Everso Mischievous that will not be answered until 2024.
Such as how he will fare in two turn races beyond a mile.
But for the moment, the connections of the 3-year-old son of Into Mischief are content with the hope of closing out 2023 in the $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) Dec. 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack with a fourth straight win while waiting to see what opportunities will arise in the new year.
“We’re excited about giving this a shot. Once we get through Saturday and let the dust settle we’ll make plans for 2024,” trainer Brad Cox said.
Owner of four wins and two seconds in six career starts, Qatar Racing’s Everso Mischievous won the prep for the Cigar, taking Aqueduct’s Forty Niner Stakes (G2) by a half-length at the same mile distance in his stakes debut against older rivals.
“I love how he’s doing. His last work was great and I like what we’ve seen from him since his last race,” Cox said.
Shippers could play a key role in the outcome of the Cigar, which was downgraded this year from grade 1 status and will be the final graded stakes of the year in New York. Senor Buscadore arrived from California after a seventh in the mile-and-a-quarter Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). A 5-year-old son of Mineshaft , he won the mile-and-a-sixteenth San Diego Handicap (G2) at Del Mar in the summer.
“He’s a super nice horse and I always expect him to run well. He’s reliable,” trainer Todd Fincher said about the 123-pound highweight in a field of 12. “He came out of the Classic great and this is the only big race for a while, so we shipped. Any distance works for him. A mile doesn’t bother me a bit.”
The Cigar will serve as a test of class for owner-trainer Jeff Runco’s Hollywood Casino At Charles Town Races shipper Coastal Mission . The 4-year-old West Virginia-bred Great Notion gelding has won 11 of 16 starts and has prevailed in eight of nine 2023 starts, all of the wins coming at Charles Town.
He captured the $270,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic for state-breds in front-running style by 5 3/4 lengths in his last start.
The field also features three starters from trainer Chad Brown, topped by Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb’s Dr Ardito (Liam’s Map ) and Klaravich Stables’ Accretive (Practical Joke ), who finished noses apart while second and third in the Oct. 28 Forty Niner.
“Dr Ardito is a tricky horse to ride. He gives himself a lot to do,” Brown said. “Accretive is a very consistent horse. He didn’t break well in the Forty Niner, so if he breaks better he might be closer at the finish.”
Three Chimneys Farm’s homebred son of Into Mischief Cascais has won one of three starts and was last seen finishing second after setting the pace in an Oct. 21 mile allowance race at Aqueduct over a sloppy track.
“He’s lightly raced,” Brown said. “We’ve always thought a lot of him. We’re skipping some conditions but I like the spacing and distance here.”
Entries: Cigar Mile H. (G2)
Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, December 02, 2023, Race 10
- Grade II
- 1m
- Dirt
- $500,000
- 3 yo’s & up
- 4:12 PM (local)
