Breeders' Cup Mile: Godolphin eyes four in a row with Notable Speech
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Godolphin, Charlie Appleby, and William Buick equaled Goldikova winning their third straight Breeders’ Cup Mile last year. When the trio goes for a fourth, a horse with connections to Goldikova stands among a full complement of turf milers trying to deny them.
The Godolphin skein began at Del Mar in 2021 when William Buick rode Space Blues to victory in the Mile. In 2022, trainer Appleby sent Modern Games out to win, and last year, Master of The Seas turned in a spectacular finish nipping another Godolphin horse, Mawj.
This year’s Godolphin entrant, Notable Speech, like Space Blues but unlike Modern Games and Master of The Seas, makes his North American debut in the Mile. Unlike his predecessors, Notable Speech, a two-time Group 1 mile winner this year, comes off a subpar performance, a fifth-place finish in the Prix du Moulin. Connections attributed the flop to soft turf and forecast a firm-ground California rebound.
Notable Speech joins seven other international horses among 14 selected to start in the Mile among 18 pre-entrants.
France’s lone Breeders’ Cup horse, 3-year-old filly Ramatuelle, punched her ticket to Del Mar rolling home in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, the same race in which trainer Freddy Head prepped Goldikova for two of her three Mile wins. Head won two other Miles as Miesque’s jockey and will go down as the sire of another Mile winner should Ramatuelle, trained by Head’s son Christopher, prevail.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien, whose lone Mile win came in 2020 with 73-1 shot Order of Australia, pre-entered four: Diego Velazquez, Henry Longfellow, and Mountain Bear got into the field’s main body; River Tiber stuck two back on the list of horses not selected to start. Mountain Bear rates as O’Brien’s third string, and it will be interesting to see whether stable rider Ryan Moore lands on Diego Velazquez or Henry Longfellow.
The Mile features a second father-son angle. O’Brien’s son Donnacha shows up with the excellent filly Porta Fortuna, twice better than Ramatuelle this season.
Chad Brown pre-entered three of the six North Americans selected to run: Carl Spackler, winner of the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland, and the one-two finishers from the First Lady there, Gina Romantica and Chili Flag. Gina Romantica, fifth in the 2023 Mile after winning the First Lady, isn’t a certain runner, Brown having floated the option of awaiting the Matriarch Stakes in December. Brown’s lone Mile win came with Uni, who had won the First Lady.
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More Than Looks rocketed home for second behind Carl Spackler at Keeneland and ran the fastest final quarter in the 2023 Mile while finishing sixth. Johannes has become the clear leader of the California turf mile division, while Win for the Money upset the Woodbine Mile.
Two Japan-based pre-entrants, Geoglyph and Ten Happy Rose, bring shaky credentials. Geoglyph finished fifth and sixth in his two starts at a mile; Ten Happy Rose was 207-1 in her lone top-level win, which came this past May in the Victoria Mile.
Full Count Felicia heads the list of horses not selected to start but has first preference in the Filly and Mare Turf and was selected into that field. Third up comes Goliad, a California speedster who should rate above River Tiber and Full Count Felicia, and probably Ten Happy Rose. Goliad still could make the field if Gina Romantica defects, Full Count Felicia opts for the other race, and River Tiber stays home.
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