Toronto, ON – New York invader Bribon, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Ventura and defending champion Rahy’s Attorney head a well-matched group of 10 turf specialists for Sunday’s $1 million, Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.
The 13th edition of one of the premier grass races in North America will be televised live across Canada on The Score, in a special two-hour presentation from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET, with post time scheduled for 5:40 pm. The winner receives $600,000.
For the second consecutive year, the Woodbine Mile is part of the ‘Win and You’re In’ Breeders’ Cup Challenge, giving the winner a berth into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, November 7 at Santa Anita in California.
Post positions were drawn Thursday at Woodbine with guest drawmaster Jay Triano, head coach of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Marc Keller’s Bribon (PP5), trained by Robert Ribaudo, won the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile over Belmont Park’s main track on May 25 before returning to the racing wars August 9 at Saratoga, easily winning a mile turf allowance event in 1:33.3. It was the first time in over two years that he’d raced on grass, a surface he’d competed on in his first 10 career starts from 2005-07, the first seven of which were in France. “In the back of my mind, I knew this race in Canada had a great purse and it was at the right distance,” recalled Ribaudo. “It certainly wasn’t his surface of choice, as of then. I said, ‘If we can get a race into him on the grass at Saratoga and see if he can perform somewhat near his dirt performance, we can think about it.'” To be ridden by Alan Garcia, the six-year-old French-bred gelded son of champion Mark of Esteem is on a three-race win streak and is the 5-2 morning line choice.
Juddmonte Farms’ Kentucky homebred Ventura (PP9), a five-year-old daughter of Chester House, comes into the race off a five-month layoff as she tries to become the first filly or mare to win the Woodbine Mile. Trained by Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, Ventura, the 7-2 second choice, has raced only three times this year, all in Grade 1 events. She won her opener, the Santa Monica in January at Santa Anita over the Pro-Ride surface, then dropped a nose decision to Gio Ponti in the turf Frank Kilroe Mile in March, before losing by a head to Informed Decision over Keeneland’s Polytrack in April. Ventura, the field’s leading money-winner with over $1.6 million and last year’s runner-up in the Woodbine Mile before her explosive victory over Indian Blessing in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita, will be ridden as usual by Garrett Gomez.
“We considered a couple of races for the summer, but then we just decided to back off her, give her a couple of months off,” said Garrett O’Rourke, Juddmonte Farm Manager in Lexington. “She needs seven furlongs or a one-turn mile, but there just wasn’t that much opportunity, so we decided to skip everything and just aim for this race and the Breeders’ Cup. A few people might have been disappointed she got beat in her last two starts. But she was beaten a nose by Gio Ponti, who was just starting his big run of success at the time. Then she was beaten a head by Informed Decision, who also has turned out to be a monster.” A win would give Frankel a third Woodbine Mile victory, following Riviera in 2000 and Leroidesanimaux in 2005, tying him with fellow conditioner Neil Drysdale, while Gomez is looking for his second win, after taking the 2007 edition with favoured Shakespeare.
Trainer Ian Black will saddle last year’s surprise Woodbine Mile winner Rahy’s Attorney (PP8), the 9-2 third choice with Slade Callaghan aboard, who seeks to become the first back-to-back winner. Co-0wned (and bred) by Ontario’s Ellie Boje Farm, along with Mitch Peters, Dean Read and Jim and Jean MacLellan, Rahy’s Attorney scored a 12-1 upset in the Mile last year, holding Ventura safe by one and one-quarter lengths, as odds-on favourite Kip Deville finished fifth. He would go on to be voted a Sovereign Award as Canada’s top Turf Male. “Going one mile on this course there’s a long, long run down the backside,” said Black. “I don’t think anybody’s going to win or get beat because of their post position. I suspect they’ll break the (stakes) record. It’s firm.” With career earnings of over $1.5 million, Rahy’s Attorney, a gelded five-year-old son of Crown Attorney, has won two of his four outings this year, the mile and one-eighth King Edward on June 27 and the mile and one-quarter Nijinsky on July 26. Recently, he finished sixth to Marchfield in the mile and three-eighths Sky Classic on August 23 over a ‘good’ turf. “We’re really happy with him,” continued Black. “He comes in off a slightly disappointing effort. With the way the turf course was, maybe we were just going too quickly. He’s trained back really well. His first three races this year were as good as any races he’s ever run.”
Tucci Stables’ Jungle Wave (PP10), trained by Sid Attard, is the 6-1 fourth choice with jockey Todd Kabel. Claimed for $62,500 on May 10, the four-year-old gelded son of Hold That Tiger has won three of his four starts since, including the seven furlong, turf Play The King Stakes on August 29, when he decisioned a closing Field Commission, another Mile hopeful, by three-quarters of a length. Attard won the 2001 Woodbine Mile with Numerous Times, while Kabel rode favoured Soaring Free to victory in the 2004 renewal.
Ferneley and Sterwins are both pegged at 8-1. Irish-bred Ferneley (PP3), owned by Silver Springs Stud Farm of Kentucky and trained by Ben Cecil, arrives fresh from a victory in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on August 29 in 1:33 flat, his second win in six starts this year. The five-year-old son of Ishiguru will be handled for the first time by Rafael Bejarano.
Melnyk Racing Stables’ homebred Sterwins (PP2), trained by Malcolm Pierce, has won two of his six outings this year, including his most recent, the With Approval Stakes on August 9, defeating Ice Bear by a neck. Second to Edenwold in the 2006 Queen’s Plate, the six-year-old gelded son of Runaway Groom will be ridden by Patrick Husbands, who took the thrilling 2001 Woodbine Mile aboard Numerous Times.
Field Commission (PP4), co-owned by Edward Seltzer and trainer Danny Vella, has only raced twice on the grass in his 16 career starts, but he’s been second both times…to Smart Enough in the six-furlong Highlander Stakes in June and to Jungle Wave in the Play The King. Winner of the Vigil Stakes in May over Woodbine’s Polytrack, the four-year-old son of Service Stripe, listed at 12-1, will be ridden for the first time by Julien Leparoux.
Ralph Johnson’s Sand Cove (PP1), trained by Hall of Famer Roger Attfield, is listed at 20-1 in the morning line. The four-year-old Ontario-bred son of Bold Executive enters off an easy Polytrack score in the Elgin Stakes on September 7 at one mile and one-sixteenth. To be ridden by Richard Dos Ramos, Sand Cove is unbeaten in two one-mile turf starts, winning last year’s Vice Regent and Bunty Lawless Stakes, both Ontario Sires events. Interestingly, Rahy’s Attorney was also undefeated in his three one mile turf races, prior to last year’s Woodbine Mile, including those same two stakes.
Rounding out the Mile field are Grand Adventure and Daylight Express, both at 30-1. Trainer Mark Frostad will send out Sam-Son Farm’s Grand Adventure (PP7), winner of last year’s Summer Stakes. In his only start this year, the three-year-old son of Grand Slam, to be ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva, easily won a six and one-half furlong turf contest on August 26. Frostad and Sam-Son won the 1999 Woodbine Mile with Quiet Resolve and the 2004 edition with Canada’s Horse of the Year Soaring Free. Should he succeed, Grand Adventure would be the first three-year-old to win the race. He’s also the first three-year-old to compete in the Mile since Wando and Moonshine Hall went postward in 2003.
Daylight Express (PP6) is a winner in four of his five 2009 outings in Barbados for owner Clifton Racing (Lord Michael Taylor) and trainer Robert Peirce. The four-year-old Virginia-bred son of Seeking Daylight will be ridden in his North American debut, as usual, by Barbados’ leading rider, Anderson Ward.
The stakes record time for the Woodbine Mile is 1:32.72, set by Soaring Free in 2004. Quiet Resolve ($91.10 in 1999) is the longest-priced winner while Leroidesanimaux is not only the shortest-priced winner ($3.30), but also established the largest margin of victory, seven and three-quarter lengths, in 2005.
Only three favourites have won the Mile in its first 12 editions – Soaring Free in 2004, Leroidesanimaux in 2005 and Shakespeare in 2007. Although no Woodbine Mile winner has won the Breeders’ Cup Mile, two horses who raced in the Woodbine Mile have won the Breeders’ Cup Mile – 2007 runner-up Kip Deville and Silic (1999), who had finished fifth. Three other Woodbine Mile winners, Geri (1997), Touch of the Blues (2003) and Leroidesanimaux (2005) all went on to finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Two other turf stakes highlight an exceptional Woodbine Mile undercard…the Grade 1, $750,000 Northern Dancer Stakes, presented by V-Tech, at one mile and one-half for three-year-olds and upward, with defending champion Champs Elysees, Marchfield, Canada’s Older Male Horse of 2008 and Marsh Side, winner of last year’s Pattison Canadian International and the Grade 2, $300,000 Canadian Stakes, at one mile and one-eighth for fillies and mares, topped by Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf champion and Eclipse Award winner, Forever Together.
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