Cigar Mile: Doc Sullivan wheels back for Ortiz, who wants rain

Doc Sullivan normally would not be wheeled back only two weeks from a win in a restricted stakes. But for trainer Johnny Ortiz, the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap on Saturday is not a normal situation.

“It was a last-minute decision,” Ortiz said. “We were looking into the New York-bred stakes (Dec. 26), the Alex Robb, but he ran a fantastic race in his last start. Very pleased with the way he started and then just kind of eased across the wire. And to be honest with you, we’ve been looking at the Cigar Mile for a very long time. We’re going to take our shot.”

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So it goes that Doc Sullivan will carry 5-1 morning-line odds as one of the seven starters in the last running of this race before Aqueduct is closed next year and the new Belmont Park hosts racing nearly year-round.

A 4-year-old son of Solomini who is 19: 6-6-2 with earnings of $657,840, Doc Sullivan has won a pair of seven-furlong, black-type stakes since owner Glen Lostritto of Tristar Farm transferred him the spring from Mike Miceli’s barn. Fourth-place finishes in the Forego (G1) and the Vosburgh (G3) told Ortiz that the colt could hold his own at the graded-stakes level. A neck loss Oct. 25 in the 1 1/8-mile Empire Classic said that Doc Sullivan could compete in a route race.

“He ran fantastic,” Ortiz said in a phone interview from Lexington, Ky. “He runs seven furlongs, and he runs fantastic as well. If anything, he’s only gotten better with each start as we progressed throughout the year.”

In his last race Nov. 22, Doc Sullivan was sent off as the 3-5 favorite in the seven-furlong New York Stallion Series Thunder Rumble at Aqueduct. Staying within a half-length of the early speed, he accelerated going wide through the turn and drew away to an in-hand, 5 1/2-length triumph.

The fact that it happened on a sloppy track actually emboldened Ortiz to look at the Cigar Mile and even hope that Mother Nature will deliver on the chance of rain or snow this weekend. That is because Doc Sullivan is 7: 4-1-1 on less-than-fast tracks.

“That’s why we’re looking forward to this,” Ortiz said. “He’s much better on a wet track. All his best races are run on the wet, so we’re looking at a small field for the Cigar Mile and some weather that could be coming in.”

Multiple graded-stakes winner Bishops Bay, who has 2-1 program odds, is part of that small field who will try the one-turn mile. Trained by Brad Cox, his third Grade 3 victory this year came Nov. 2 in the Forty Niner over the same course and distance as the Cigar Mile. The 5-year-old horse was sold for $1.3 million last month to the Saudi Arabia royal family’s KAS Stables with plans to race him in the Middle East this winter.

Drawn widest for Saturday’s race, Bishops Bay and Woodward (G2) runner-up Phileas Fogg, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, figure to set the early pace.

“There’s enough speed in here that I think we’ll be somewhere mid-pack,” Ortiz said. “Then again, I thought that in the last race, and he was much more forwardly placed.”

Joel Rosario, who had ridden Doc Sullivan in all five starts for Ortiz, will be on Phileas Fogg this weekend. Ortiz said that was because he had not yet committed to the Cigar Mile before Rosario had to make his own call. That means Ricardo Santana Jr. takes over to ride Doc Sullivan from the rail post Saturday.

“Ricardo has worked this horse several times in the past,” Ortiz said. “He does know this horse, and that’s why we went this route. Ricardo has been pretty hot with our barn. He’s always ridden really well for me in the past, especially in the (New York Stallion) Stakes Series, so I’m very confident.

“I don’t like to reinvent the horse. This one has just been running awesome races since we got him. As long as he gets a good, clean break, I don’t really like the 1 hole, but there’s enough speed that they’re going to clear over us.”

Ortiz, 39, is looking for the ninth graded-stakes win of his nine-year training career. Quietside won for him early this year at Oaklawn in the Honeybee (G3) and Fantasy (G2). A native of Colombia, he came to New York as a youngster when his father, jockey Carlos Ortiz, moved the family to the U.S.

Working his way up from being a hot walker in Bill Mott’s barn, Ortiz has a chance to get his biggest win since Brightwork upset Ways and Means in the 2023 Spinaway. Considering the Cigar Mile’s history and its move next fall, this one might mean a little more.

“It’s the last Cigar Mile that will be run at Aqueduct,” said Ortiz, who is scheduled to fly to New York on Friday. “That’s very significant not only for me being a New York but for Mr. Glen and his family. And Chance Moquett has done a fantastic job trying to get this horse ready. He’s managed well.”

And if it is another rainy day in New York City, all the better.

“I’m doing a rain dance right now,” Ortiz said. “I’m hoping for rain or snow or whatever.”