Woodbine Mile nominees announced

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine has released a list of 18 nominees for the 29th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile, the headliner on Turf Champions Day on Sept. 13.

Trainer Mark Casse nominated the speedy sophomore Mi Bago, Canadian champion My Boy Prince, and last year’s winner, Win for the Money, who recently shipped back to Woodbine off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga. Woodbine’s perennial leading trainer has won the Woodbine Mile three times.

The powerful Godolphin operation nominated multiple Group 1 victor Notable Speech and First Conquest, a Group 3 winner in Dubai who was competitive in his last two starts against Group 3 company in England. Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby captured the 2023 Woodbine Mile with Master of The Seas.

Trainer Kevin Attard won the local prep for the Woodbine Mile, the Grade 2 King Edward, with Gas Me Up, who is his lone nominee. Trainer Don MacRae nominated the favored King Edward fourth-place finisher Cruden Bay, who won each of the last two editions of the Grade 2 Connaught Cup.

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The other Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re in qualifiers on Turf Champions Day at Woodbine are a pair of Grade 1s for 2-year-olds, the Summer and Natalma.

The $500,000 Summer attracted 16 nominees, including Soaring Free Stakes victor Two Out Hero, Bill of Ice, and Marcus J. All three are unbeaten runners trained by Kevin Attard. Casse nominated four, including Victoria Stakes winner Casson.

The $500,000 Natalma got 22 nominees, including Godolphin’s Dance to the Music and the unbeaten local runners Corsia Veloce and Dixie Law.

The last two editions of the Natalma contained the brilliant 2023 winner She Feels Pretty, currently the leading older female on turf in North America, and the future Grade 1 Alabama winner Nitrogen, who wound up third last year en route to being crowned Canadian champion 2-year-old filly.

All three stakes will be contested around two turns on the inner turf for the first time while the main turf undergoes a year-long restoration project.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Casse said. “I think it will be a little more educational for horses going to the Breeders’ Cup. It’s [always been] a little issue when you run in the Summer and Natalma and have only one-turn experience. Now, this is going to help you with some two-turn experience. The post is going to be very important.”

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