Cigar Mile Handicapping Picks
Horse racing gamblers are you looking for 2020 Cigar Mile Free Pick & Handicapping Odds…plus some predictions? Need some advice on who to take? The 2020 Cigar Mile is set for December 5 at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, New York. Here’s a preview of our top contenders.
Cigar Mile Preview and Prediction
- Race: Cigar Mile Handicap
- Purse: $500,000
- Track: Aqueduct Race Track
- Date: December 5
- Post Time: 4:13 PM (ET)
- Live: Cigar Mile Odds: Click Here
2020 Cigar Mile Handicapping
The final Grade 1 stakes race for 2020 on the New York circuit is set to go on Saturday afternoon with the running of the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Race Track.
Named for the great thoroughbred Cigar – who reeled off 16 consecutive wins during the 1994-95 seasons – the 2020 version of the race has drawn a solid field of nine starters, including past Triple Crown contenders.
Odds listed here are provided by the Aqueduct track handicapper.
2020 Cigar Mile Free Pick & Handicapping: Performer Race Odds: 7-5
Perhaps more low-profile than several other starters in here, Performer sports an eye-catching record of five wins and one third-place finish in six lifetime starts.
That run includes a win in his only graded-stakes start two back, when he won the (G3) Discovery Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the Aqueduct dirt. Last out he scored at the one-mile distance on the dirt at Belmont Park in an allowance-level event.
Veteran trainer Shug McGaughey won the Cigar back in 1996. Jockey Joel Rosario is tapped to ride.
2020 Cigar Mile Free Pick & Handicapping: Firenze Fire Race Odds: 5-2
Florida-bred Firenze Fire was a Kentucky Derby contender in 2018 and has also made four consecutive starts in Breeders’ Cup races from 2017-20. For his career he has 12 wins in 30 lifetime starts, with five of those at the graded-stakes level.
Last out he ran third in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, missing the runner-up spot by a slim neck. Prior to that he was an open-lengths winner of the (G2) Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park.
He’s trained by Kelly Breen, and jockey Jose Lezcano won the Cigar in 2011.
2020 Cigar Mile Free Pick & Handicapping: King Guillermo Race Odds: 9-2
A fan favorite going into the 2020 Kentucky Derby, the three-year-old King Guillermo wasn’t on anyone’s radar until he won the (G2) Tampa Bay Derby in March at odds of 49-1.
He followed that up with a solid second-place finish in the (G1) Arkansas Derby in May and then was trained up to the September Derby, but was scratched with an illness just two days before the big race.
He’ll be making his first start in seven months, and going up against older horses for the first time in his career.
Trainer Juan Avila has his first Cigar Mile starter, while jockey Jose Ortiz won the race in 2018.
2020 Cigar Mile Free Pick & Handicapping: Mr. Buff Race Odds: 6-1
The only New York bred in the field, Mr. Buff comes in off a handy win in the Empire Stakes, a race that was restricted to horses foaled in the Empire state.
A six-year-old veteran with 40 starts under his saddle, he’s won 15 of those and finished in the money 24 times. While his win record includes a handful of lower-level stakes, he has yet to visit the winner’s circle at the graded-stakes level.
He’s trained by John Kimmel who calls on 2013 race winner Junior Alvarado to ride.
Here’s My 2020 Clark Stakes Free Pick.
As impressive as he is on paper, I have to question the type of competition Performer has been facing so far in his short career, and at low odds and up against a field of multiple graded-stakes winners I have to try and beat him.
Even though he’s probably at his best going six or seven furlongs, Firenze Fire has the ability to stalk off the pace and still have something left for deep stretch, so getting the mile isn’t out of the question. Although this is a Grade 1 race, it’s probably a slight drop in class compared to what he has been facing lately and I’ll play him for the win.
Full Field: Cigar Mile Betting Odds
- Performer 7-5
- Firenze Fire 5-2
- King Guillermo 9-2
- Mr. Buff 6-1
- True Timber 15-1
- Mind Control 20-1
- Snapper Sinclair 20-1
- Majestic Dunhill 20-1
- Bon Raison 20-1
What do you think of our 2020 Cigar Mile Race Odds & Predictions? Weigh in below with a comment. We welcome your feedback.
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