Master of The Seas pulls away to dominant Woodbine Mile win
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Master of The Seas came across the pond from England to blow away a compact field in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita in the process.
Master of The Seas ($2.80) broke slowly from the inside post under William Buick before trailing down the backstretch, racing six lengths off front-running My Sea Cottage.
My Seas Cottage set moderate fractions while being tracked by War Bomber, who made the lead entering the stretch before Lucky Score overtook him.
Master of The Seas began to mount his rally late on the turn. He powered home on the outside in the final three-sixteenths to win going away by 3 3/4 lengths, in a time of 1:33.79 over the good ground.
Shirl’s Speight was relegated to a trailing position approaching the turn before closing steadily to beat out Lucky Score by a neck for second. War Bomber, Ice Chocolat, and My Sea Cottage completed the order of finish.
“He’s pretty high maintenance, but everyone at home has done a great job with him,” Buick said. “When he won at Ascot the last time, you sort of sensed he was showing his best and was back to his best form. He had some real good 2-year-old form. He really showed how good he is” today.
“He usually breaks pretty fast. For one reason or another, he didn’t today. There wasn’t that many runners and the pace was even throughout, without being crazy. It’s a big, fair track. He’s a horse with a turn of foot, and it was just my job to navigate a trouble-free passage for him, really.”
It was the eighth Grade 1 win at Woodbine for trainer Charlie Appleby, who was represented by assistant Alex Merriam. Appleby and winning owner Godolphin also combined to take last year’s Woodbine Mile with Modern Games, who went on the capture the BC Mile at Keeneland.
“He’s a horse who needs to settle in his races,” Merriam said. “They went nicely [up front] all the way around. I thought he had a pretty smooth trip. He’s fairly lightly raced and he’s not the most straightforward. He’s been very relaxed over here. The team has done a great job with him.”
Merriam said Master of The Seas will ship back to England on Wednesday with the Nov. 4 BC Mile as his probable target.
“Let’s see how he is come the end of October,” Merriam said. “Hopefully, if he’s well, maybe [off] to the Breeders’ Cup.”
A 5-year-old gelding by Dubawi, Master of The Seas earned $600,000 of the $1,022,000 purse.
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