Sharp Azteca wins HRN Horse of the Week in another runaway

Sharp Azteca won last Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile by 5 1/4 lengths, but his margin of victory in HorseRacingNation.com's Horse of the Week Poll was wider.

Owned by Ivan Rodriguez and trained by Jorge Navarro, the son of Freud collected 67 percent of the vote in a poll of HRN readers, with Grade 2 Remsen winner Catholic Boy (23 percent) and Grade 2 Demoiselle winner Wonder Gadot (5 percent) the next most-popular picks.

The Cigar marked Sharp Azteca’s first Grade 1 score after runner-up finishes in three other tries at that level. It should also propel him on to an entry in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup to take on Gun Runner and other top dirt horses in training.

Sharp Azteca showed a new dimension in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. Under jockey Javier Castellano, he rated early, then made his move in the stretch, continuing well under the wire despite a quick turnaround from his second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

He defeated, among others, Mind Your Biscuits and Practical Joke, who entered the Cigar unbeaten around one turn.

From his 16 career starts, Sharp Azteca has won eight and has finished out of the exacta in just three races.