Locked prevails against elders in Cigar Mile

Coming as it did at the end of a long season, the $500,000 Cigar Mile H. (G2) at Aqueduct on Saturday proved an ideal win opportunity for a relatively fresh horse. That was indeed the case as the three-year-old Locked, who had a single allowance prep this year, bested Mullikin and several other stellar older rivals.

Winner of the Breeders' Futurity (G1) and third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last season, Locked was taken out of training last winter due to a knee injury while preparing for the Kentucky Derby (G1). But his 7 1/2-length comeback win on Oct. 19 going seven furlongs, his first race in nearly a year, impressed bettors enough to send him off as the 2-1 favorite in the Cigar Mile.

Rating in midpack as Repo Rocks sped through early fractions of :22.87, :45.30, and 1:09.81, Locked began to improve position around the far turn. Rallying wide to take aim on Forego (G1) winner Mullikin, who had seized command approaching the eighth pole, Locked finished strongly to win by 1 1/2 lengths under John Velazquez.

"He came into the year with high hopes and unfortunately, we got sidelined for a little while, but he came back and finished up the year the way he did and proved that very good two-year-olds turn into really good three-year-olds as well," said Todd Pletcher, who was winning the Cigar Mile for a record seventh time.

"We had a physical setback that we had to give him some time for. It was unfortunate timing because I think that the way some of the Triple Crown races set up this year would have suited him really well, but that's the way it goes sometimes."

Prat's win in the Go for Wand tied the single stakes record by a jockey set by Irad Ortiz Jr. in 2022. Prat set a new mark later on Saturday's Aqueduct card when guiding Poster to victory in the Remsen (G2).

Second in the 2023 edition of the Go for Wand as well as the Turnback the Alarm S., Tizzy in the Sky previously captured the nine-furlong Top Flight S. at Aqueduct in mid-April. She has now won five of 13 starts overall.

Bred in Kentucky by Westrock Stables, Tizzy in the Sky is by Sky Kingdom and out of Tizz the Tide, by Tiznow.