Breeders' Cup Mile: With best Euros on the fence, Coolmore Turf Mile takes on more importance
?q=100)
As European participation in the Breeders’ Cup Mile has grown tenuous in the last week, the importance of the $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile on Saturday at Keeneland has increased commensurately.
The Ireland-based Tahiyra and the England-based Inspiral a few weeks ago looked like decent bets to show up at Santa Anita for the Mile and would’ve been among the shorter prices. Now, both horses might remain on the east side of the Atlantic.
Tahihyra, a Dermot Weld-trained 3-year-old filly with a quicksilver turn of foot, won the Matron Stakes on Sept. 9, and while the Matron is linked in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series to the Filly and Mare Turf, Tahirya is a miler. The BC Mile would have been her spot, and Weld called the Breeders’ Cup an obvious possibility just after the Matron. Then, earlier this week, a new target race emerged, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Oct. 21 at Ascot. A start in the QE II wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Mile, but the quick turnaround with a long ship seems improbable for a filly who has been lightly campaigned.
After 4-year-old Inspiral won her Breeders’ Cup Challenge race in the Jacques Le Marois on Aug. 13, the BC Mile looked like a leading option. But Inspiral runs Saturday in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket and her future is up on the air, her owner undecided, at least publicly, whether the filly races in 2024. Comments from Inspiral’s camp suggest that if retirement is the choice, the Mile could be Inspiral’s finale.
England and Ireland’s leading 3-year-old, Paddington, is favored over Tahiyra in the QE II, and the most recent public comments from trainer Aidan O’Brien didn’t rule the colt out of the Mile. Kinross, third in the 2022 BC Mile and second Sunday in the Prix de la Foret, remains a possible Mile starter.
The longshot who beat Kinross in the Foret, the 3-year-old filly Kelina, runs in the Mile if all goes well, but she’s far from a proven commodity and other European hopes trace non-traditional trajectories. Chaldean, winner of the 2000 Guineas in May, hasn’t started since July 9; Mawj last raced five months ago, when she beat Tahiyra over a soft course in the 1000 Guineas.
The 5-year-old mare Songline is Japan’s best miler and probably fits snugly into a race like the BC Mile, but one need not look several thousand miles away for key Mile action this weekend.
Nine horses are entered in the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland, among them Master of The Seas, who crushed foes Sept. 16 winning the Woodbine Mile, a BC Challenge race. Charlie Appleby trains Master of The Seas for Godolphin, and William Buick is his regular rider. Heard of them? These connections won the 2021 Mile with Space Blues and the 2022 Mile with Modern Games, and Master of The Seas could be favored Saturday.
Among his opponents is America’s top turf horse of 2023, Up to the Mark, who sees action for the first time since winning the Grade 1 Manhattan over 1 1/4 miles on June 10. Up to the Mark won the Manhattan by nearly three lengths after capturing the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill over 1 1/8 miles by nearly four lengths in May. He’d been aimed toward the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs, another 1 1/4-mile contest that could have been a stepping-stone to a 1 1/2-mile experiment in a race like the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic that could have put Up to the Mark on a path toward the BC Turf. But “a hiccup,” as trainer Todd Pletcher termed it, took the colt out of the Million, and Up to the Mark returns at one mile.
“We have to see how this race goes,” said Pletcher, who is leaving his Breeders’ Cup options open. “We’ll see if we have enough foundation to stretch him out. The way he won the Manhattan gave us confidence he could do just about anything. I think he’s got a pretty electric turn of foot.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.