The $500,000 Cigar Mile of 2025 is the last big handicap of the calendar year put on by Aqueduct Racetrack organizers the NYRA. As a Grade II contest, it attracts some smart horses on the East Coast of America to the Queens, New York venue on Saturday, December 6 with Bishops Bay and Phileas Fogg joint-topweights.
Receiving 1lb from the pair is Carter Stakes winner Crazy Mason. Representing the Gregory Sacco barn, this four-year-old Coal Front colt twice showed at Saratoga behind Book’em Danno during the summer meet. Although beaten four lengths in the True North Stakes there during the Belmont Stakes schedule and big festival moved upstate, Crazy Mason finished much closer in the Grade I Forego.
With a prep race for the Cigar Mile under his belt when placed in the Vosburgh Stakes back at Aqueduct where he turned about prior form with Scotland, Crazy Mason looks like he could have more to offer upped a furlong in distance. He last ran over precisely a mile as a juvenile, but has shaped on a number of occasions this season like it could be perfect for him.
Joint-topweights Bishops Bay and Phileas Fogg posted their best past performances over further, so stepping out of sprints may see Crazy Mason have too much speed for either. All of the favored runners on the best Belmont Stakes racebooks have prior wins around Aqueduct in Listed or graded company, but the NYRA handicapper gives Crazy Mason every chance.
Cigar Mile Distance a Concern for Suburban Scorer Phileas Fogg
If there’s a strong pace in the race, then Gustavo Rodriguez will feel Phileas Fogg can handle dropping back in trip just five. This five-year-old Astern gelding’s last couple of winners came here, but over a mile-and-a-quarter. Phileas Fogg landed a Listed race here in the spring, but then placed in the Grade III Pimlico Special Stakes down the East Coast in Baltimore during the Preakness meet.
He then produced a career-best at Saratoga over the summer. Phileas Fogg held off subsequent top-level winner Antiquarian by a head in the Grade II Suburban Stakes around the Spa. The front two pulled some six lengths clear of Locked in third, but both he and Antiquarian have turned the form about on Phileas Fogg since.
Veering left jumping from the gate in a dramatic edition of the Jockey Club Gold Cup caused NYRA stewards to disqualify him. Phileas Fogg finished third past the winner, but suffered demotion to last for the incident. A bid for compensation in the Woodward Stakes here at Aqueduct last time dropped back in trip to 1,800m ended in defeat as Locked prevailed off level weights (4lb better off from the Suburban).
It places a question mark over Phileas Fogg’s effectiveness over shorter distances. Sure, he’s won a minor race over the Cigar Mile course and distance last fall and produced a strong speed figure that day, but his subsequent exploits suggest the mile-and-a-quarter is where he’s at his best. Carrying topweight in a graded handicap looks no easy task for him.
Bishops Bay Also Has Big Weight in Bid to Turn About Prior Form
Brad Cox hasn’t ever won this race before, but saddles the other topweight in the line-up. Bishops Bay has won three Grade III events this season including the Westchester Stakes and Forty Niner on his last couple of visits to Aqueduct. A mile looks optimum for the five-year-old son of Uncle Mo, then. He bumped into subsequent Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo when placed in the 2023 Peter Pan over further.
Connections of Bishops Bay learned plenty from that encounter in late spring a couple of seasons ago. After also placing in the Ohio Derby, he missed a lot of the last campaign, returning from injury late in 2024. His stamina seems to last an extended mile (1,700m), which is a plus for the Cigar Mile if they go hard up front.
When dropped back to 1,400m in the Forego Stakes, however, Bishops Bay couldn’t go the pace. He finished sixth and more than two lengths behind Crazy Mason off level weights. Off the revised terms from Saratoga to now, he has work to do over another furlong to turn the tables. That may be something he’s capable of, though.
The Forego form has already been reversed by Bishops Bay as he bested the second, Scotland, in the Forty Niner conceding 4lb to Bill Mott’s Good Magic gelding. As for the others in the field of seven, they carry even less weight with the likes of Michael Maker’s three-year-old colt Mika and the veteran seven-year-old gelding Brazenly receiving 11lb from the topweights.
Favorable Terms for Doc Sullivan in Cigar Mile of 2025
Crazy Mason wasn’t the only one to catch the eye in the Forego with a view to stepping up to a mile someday. Doc Sullivan missed the show for John Ortiz, but finished fourth and just a length behind. He now meets the re-opposing third off 2lb better terms and receives 3lb more from Bishops Bay. These revised weights bring the four-year-old colt by Solomini firmly into calculations.
Doc Sullivan lacks the graded form of the big guns in the Cigar Mile, but has instead posted some smart speed figures in Restricted Stakes races. Running in events confined to New York only bred horses, he landed a 1,400m event at Aqueduct as his prep for this. Doc Sullivan does need to prove his credentials at this higher level, but the NYRA handicapper helps his cause.
Shug McGaughey won this race way back in 1996, so looks to end an almost 30-year drought with Pentathlon. He makes his stakes debut after only running in minor events. This four-year-old Speightstown colt is yet another Aqueduct winner in the line-up, but only has a 3-14 record and lacks the level of form of the favored horses.
Stepping up to graded company even in a handicap is a big challenge for Pentathlon, Mika and Brazenly. Three-year-olds have a fine recent record, landing three of the last six editions, but Maker knows he’s pitching his youngster in at the deep end even off joint-bottom weight. Mika and Brazenly must be considered longshots.
Cigar Mile 2025 Post Positions Draw & Morning Line Odds
- Doc Sullivan (120lbs) – 5-1
- Mika (114lbs) – 12-1
- Pentathlon (118lbs) – 10-1
- Crazy Mason (124lbs) – 7-2
- Brazenly (114lbs) – 30-1
- Phileas Fogg (125lbs) – 9-5 fav
- Bishops Bay (125lb) – 2-1 fav
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
It does very much look as though Crazy Mason could land the spoils and reinvent himself as a miler. The drop back in distance just makes this assignment look too sharp for Phileas Fogg. Bishops Bay is probably better equipped to deal with it, but Doc Sullivan split him and Crazy Mason in the Forego (and has an inside draw), so these terms suggest he may well do so again.
WATCH: Crazy Mason, Doc Sullivan & Bishops Bay Run in the Forego Stakes
