Breeders' Cup Mile: Europeans once again bring the goods
A 3-year-old colt and a 6-year-old mare might be the only American horses standing in the way of a European win in this year’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Three-year-old Annapolis faced older horses for the first time and beat all of them in the best top-to-bottom North American grass mile of 2022, the Coolmore Turf Mile, run over the Keeneland course on Oct. 8.
Earlier that day, 6-year-old Regal Glory could not run down her Chad Brown-trained pacesetting stablemate In Italian in the one-mile First Lady Stakes, but her Beyer Speed Figure of 102 was just a point lower than Annapolis’s 103.
It we’re talking speed figures, Modern Games dominates the conversation. Standout winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2021, Modern Games returned to North America for the Sept. 17 Woodbine Mile and won by 5 1/2 lengths in a gallop, beating Ivar, who was second in the Coolmore Turf Mile and is set to make his third BC Mile appearance. Modern Games’s Beyer was 112, the highest turf figure in North America this year.
If Modern Games, trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, justifies his favoritism, he’ll be the first horse to win the Juvenile Turf and the Mile. He and fellow sophomore Annapolis try to emulate Order of Australia, who won the 2020 Mile at Keeneland as a 3-year-old. Third in the Coolmore Turf Mile, Order of Australia could become the first two-time mile winner since Wise Dan, who won in 2012 and 2013. A 73-1 shot in 2020, Order of Australia is merely a moderate longshot this time.
Modern Games was one of three Appleby winners last fall at Del Mar, where Yibir won the Turf and Space Blues the Mile following a win in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp. Kinross, the 2022 Foret winner, could mount a stern challenge to Modern Games.
Trained by Ralph Beckett, who won the defunct Breeders’ Cup Marathon with Muhannak in 2008, Kinross would complete a unique, remarkable triple were he to win at Keeneland. Two weeks after his comfortable score in the Foret, he cruised to victory in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint over a testing six furlongs at Ascot.
The Mile drew 18 pre-entrants and can accommodate 14 starters. The list of excluded horses is uncontroversial. Shirl’s Speight is the first alternate and will make the field if Saffron Beach’s connections opt for the Filly and Mare Turf, their first preference at time of pre-entry.
:: Breeders' Cup Pre-Entry PPs Now Available - Exclusively with a BC Package
Europeans have won three of the last four Miles, a string interrupted by the Chad Brown-trained mare Uni in 2019. Other overseas pre-entrants are the 5-year-old mare Dreamloper, whose romping last-out win in the Prix du Moulin overstates her baseline performance; Malavath, a sleeper who was second in the Foret and the 2021 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf; and Pogo, a blue-collar 6-year-old who likes to lead.
Bayside Boy, running the race of his life over very soft going on Oct. 15 at Ascot posted a 33-1 upset over Modern Games in the Queen Elizabeth II, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race that gave him free entry into the Mile. While Bayside Boy was pre-entered in the Mile, his connections have strongly hinted he won’t travel to Keeneland.
Smooth Like Strait has one win the last two calendar years but always races competitively and was second to Space Blues last year. He missed an intended start in the Coolmore Turf Mile after cutting his leg but worked a quick five furlongs Oct. 21 and should be set for the Mile.
California-based Beyond Brilliant brings speed to the race but will struggle to contend at this class.
Brown’s second entrant could be a curiosity or a real force. Domestic Spending hasn’t raced since finishing second in the Mister D. Stakes two Augusts ago, his 2022 season all but lost to an injury he suffered the week of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup. Brown had Domestic Spending pointed to the 1 1/2-mile BC Turf then and now is trying to impart enough speed into Domestic Spending for the exceedingly talented gelding to quicken his way into Mile contention. Don’t rule it out.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.