NYRA Press
Graded stakes-winner Tale of Silence will look to continue a family tradition of winning the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The lucrative Cigar Mile card, which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen for 2-year-olds, the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies, the Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap for older fillies and mares, as well as the rescheduled $150,000 Winter Memories for sophomore fillies and the $125,000 Autumn Days for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, is the signature event of the Aqueduct fall meet.
Carded as Race 10 with a local post time of 4:16 p.m. Eastern, the Cigar Mile will anchor a mandatory payout in the Empire 6 which boasts a jackpot of $520,913 heading into Thursday’s Big A card.
The Cigar Mile Day card will be televised on a special edition of America’s Day at the Races airing on FS2 and MSG+ from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern.
Tale of Silence, four-time graded stakes-placed, will be seeking his first trip to the winner’s circle since winning the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont Park last May.
Trained by Barclay Tagg and owned by Charles Fipke, the son of Tale of the Cat is a full-brother to 2008 Cigar Mile winner Tale of Ekati. Both are out of the Sunday Silence broodmare Silence Beauty – a half-sister to Eclipse Award winner and Hall of Famer Sky Beauty.
“Tale of Ekati was faster but I think this one is better from an overall physical standpoint, but he’s not quite as fast,” Tagg said. “He’s a nice horse. Sometimes if you wait it out there a nice Grade 1 waiting there for you and everyone else goes to the Breeders’ Cup. You can take advantage of that sometimes. He’s got some good natural speed.”
In addition to Tale of Ekati and Tale of Silence, Tagg and Fipke have teamed up to win the Cigar Mile with Jersey Town in 2010.
Tale of Silence arrives at Saturday’s test off a runner-up effort to Cigar Mile rival Maximum Security in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at Belmont Park and boasts a record of 21-3-5-3 with career earnings of $534,282.
