Stewart caps big month with shot at 2017 Cigar Mile

By Jonathan Lintner

When stepping a horse up in class, Dallas Stewart says “you can handicap yourself right out of a race” while evaluating the favorites.

So it should come as little surprise that the trainer of horses such as Kentucky Derby runner-ups Golden Soul (2013) and Commanding Curve (2014) is “more so trying to handicap myself into them.”

Stewart did it again a week ago when Seeking the Soul went from a Keeneland allowance win to a victory in Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Clark. He’ll look for another upset when recent Grade 3 winner Tom’s Ready goes in Saturday’s $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

The Cigar Mile will mark the final race of Tom’s Ready’s career before he heads off to stud at Spendthrift Farm. It will also finish a month that opened with Forever Unbridled’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff victory.

“The Breeders’ Cup and the Clark — I mean, that’s pretty big,” Stewart said.

Should he add a Cigar Mile win, the biggest of his career?

“If you say so,” Stewart added.

The trainer said he’s not doing much different these days, other than continuing to work “in the trenches” each day with his staff. A native of McComb, Miss., Stewart struck out on his own in the 1990s after 12 years spent as an assistant to the legendary D. Wayne Lukas.

Now, he operates out of a barn adjacent to Lukas’ at Churchill Downs with a penchant for blurring the lines between maiden and allowance horses and the country's top stakes runners.

In New York for the weekend with Tom’s Ready, Stewart on Friday likened the 4-year-old’s chance to some of his other notable high-priced horses. Golden Soul ran second to Orb in the 2013 Derby at 34-1 odds. Commanding Curve finished behind California Chrome in 2014 at 37-1. And Tale of Verve put in a runner-up 2015 Preakness Stakes effort at 28-1.

“Sometimes you’re hoping the favorite doesn’t show up and run as hard as everyone says he will,” Stewart said.

With Commanding Curve, Stewart thought he had a Derby winner despite the hype surrounding California Chrome.

“I didn’t think there was any way the horse could come to Churchill Downs, not train over that track and beat us,” Stewart said, “but he sure did.”

His Cigar Mile evaluation is simple.

“It looks like, to me, you’ve got some very nice horses in there with a lot of gas,” Stewart said, mentioning Sharp Azteca and Practical Joke, the morning line favorites. “We’re looking for a lot of action up front the first three-quarters of 7/8 of a mile, and then hopefully Tom’s Ready will be on his game the last eighth of a mile and come get them.

“It’s a chance we’re taking.”

And, if history indicates, a chance Stewart should take.