Front-running Group 1 winner BIG ROCK (Fr) (Rock of Gibralter), who beat a fancy field in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) at Ascot last fall on soft turf, has arrived in Ontario for his first run on this side of the ocean. The four-year-old colt is one of nine projected entries for the $1 million Rogers Woodbine Mile on Sept. 14, the 37th running of the race which is a Breeders’ Cup World Championships ‘Win and You’re In’ race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1).
The Woodbine Mile, which began as the Molson Export Million in the late 1980s and was a dirt race, has been a key race for horses from all over to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup.
Brilliant milers such as Shakespeare, Wise Dan and the great mare Tepin have won the Mile and gone on to do well at the Breeders’ Cup. The last two winners of the Woodbine Mile, Master of the Seas (Ire) and Modern Games (Ire), both owned by Godolphin and trained by Charlie Appleby went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Big Rock is one of two invaders for this year’s Mile and while he went out in 2023 with that big win at Ascot, he has been well beaten in all three races this year all Group 1s. He changed trainers before this season from Christopher Head to Maurizio Guarnieri and first time out, in the Lockinge Stakes, he fell to his nose out of the gate and didn’t get to the early lead.
In June in the Queen Anne (G1), he and rival Facteur Cheval raced on the opposite side of the track of the big field and tired each other out while the very good colt Charyn went on to win.
He met Charyn again last time in Deauville in the Prix de Hara de Fresnay and did a bit better, finishing fifth behind Charyn on firm turf. That race went in a quick 1:33.80 for one mile. Umberto Rispoli is pegged to ride Big Rock who is owned and bred by Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals of Yeguada Centurion SL.
Meanwhile, the powerful Godolphin and Appleby team have a good chance to win its third Woodbine Mile in succession with NAVAL POWER (GB), who was second by a head in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 4. The four-year-old was a top-class two-year-old in England, raced once in 2023 and then missed more than a year before he returned in February of this year, winning the Group 2 Singspiel Stakes Meyden at 1 1/8 miles.
His two races in Kentucky were super as he was second to Master of the Seas in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on Apr. 12 and second by a head in the Grade 1 Turf Classic to Program Trading at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day. Nala Power has been training steadily at Saratoga. William Buick will ride.
Godolphin, Appleby and Buick have a strong contender in all four of the Grade 1 races at Woodbine on Saturday.
On the local front, champion FILO DI ARIANNA (Brz) is in top form for trainer Mark Casse. A two-time Sovereign Award winner in 2022, the eight-year-old is five-for-five on the Woodbine turf and he has won two Grade 2 stakes in succession. Casse noted that the horse was not fully cranked for his latest, the King Edward, off the two-month layoff, but he won by a nose anyway.
Casse will start WIN FOR THE MONEY, an improving five-year-old gelding who is owned by Love Oak Plantation. He put up a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure when he won his season debut at Gulfstream in May, the Mr. Steele Stakes. The son of Ontario sire Mohaymen was then fourth behind an Appleby horse, Ottoman Fleet, in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs behind a soft pace, and then second in the Turf Mile at Ellis Park last time, also behind a slow pace.
MY BOY PRINCE, a gallant second in the King’s Plate just about three weeks ago, is also scheduled to run for Casse.
The remainder of the field includes Connaught Cup (G2) winner CRUDEN BAY, allowance winners NIAGARA Skyline, and PLAYMEA TUNE (who has never tried grass) and stakes winner SECRET RESERVE.
37th Woodbine Mile – Entrants
Horse Trainer Jockey Notes
Big Rock (FR) – Maurizio Guarnieri – Umberto Rispoli – Front runner, likes giving turf the best, changed trainers this year, has been chasing the very good Charyn
Cruden Bay – Don MacRae – Sofia Vives – Won the Grade 2 Connaught, is an off-the-pace local six-year-old
Filo Di Arianna (BRZ) – Mark Casse – Kazushi Kimura – champion turf male in 2022 is back in winning form in 2024. Won Highlander and King Edward, both Grade 2, in last two starts.
My Boy Prince – Mark Casse – Sahin Civaci – Ch. two-year-old in Canada was second in King’s Plate
Naval Power (GB) – Charles Appleby – William Buick – Group 2 winner beaten a head at Churchill Downs in GI
Niagara Skyline – John Charalambous – Rafael Hernandez – local gelding won allowance last time
Playmea Tune – Josie Carroll – John Velazquez – local stakes-placed gelding would be making grass and 1 mile debut
Secret Reserve – Michael Mattine – Leo Salles – Trusty local gelding was third in King Edward
Win for the Money – Mark Casse – Patrick Husbands – improved 5five-year-old gelding won Gulfstream stake, fourth in Wise Dan Stakes
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