Saturday’s $1 million Woodbine Mile figures to have major Breeders’ Cup Mile implications as the defending champ in both races, Notable Speech, returns from his home base in Newmarket, England. Eight runners, including America’s top turfer Deterministic, will battle in what has become Canada’s most important international race. The supporting card is loaded with stakes in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies Turf divisions.
Horseplayers with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet take advantage of a $5,000 Exacta-Thon promotion for Saturday’s Woodbine card. Hit exactas on 4 or more races on the program to earn your share of the $5,000 in bonus money ($2 wager minimum per exacta).
Let’s meet the contenders for the Woodbine Mile (Race 10):
#1-DETERMINISTIC: Saratoga summer star has won 7 straight races, including 4 Spa Grade 1s, over the past 16 months. The Miguel Clement trainee successfully cut back in distance to win the Fourstardave at a flat mile and is 3: 2-1-0 at the trip in limited attempts. Regular rider Kendrick Carmouche will be back aboard this leading contender who has been prominently placed early in his races regardless of distance. Handicapper Matt Bernier’s #4-rated Breeders’ Cup Mile prospect in this week’s edition of Bernier’s Best rankings, exclusively at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet.
#2-GAS ME UP: Scored the local prep, the Grade 2 King Edward, by a nose last out as the favorite for his fourth Woodbine grass win in 6 bids. Third-place finisher in last year’s Woodbine Mile makes a return appearance. The 6-year-old Hard Spun gelding has split time with Peter Eurton in California and Kevin Attard at Woodbine over the years. Attard won this race in 2020 with Starship Jubilee. Jockey Fraser Aebly is riding high having won the middle jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown, Fort Erie’s Price of Wales Stakes, on Monday.
#3-NOTABLE SPEECH: The reigning Woodbine Mile champ (pictured) bids to join Hall of Famer Wise Dan as the only 2-time winners of this race. The Godolphin blue has been in the winner’s circle 3 of the last 4 years (Modern Games ’22, Master of the Seas ’23, Notable Speech ’25) for the Charlie Appleby-William Buick tandem – all 3 sired by Dubawi. Exits a win in the Group 1 City of York, adding to his Group 1 Lockinge victory in a 2-for-4 campaign so far this year. Ranked the #3 Breeders’ Cup Mile contender this week by handicapper Matt Bernier in his latest edition of the Bernier’s Best rankings, exclusively at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet.
#4-ARCHIVIST: Wathnan Racing’s middle east and Newmarket raider takes a big step up in class for his first Grade 1 attempt. The Dubawi gelding won the Group 3 Strensall at York last out in his first group-level bid and has now won 3 of his last 4 starts. Qatari trainer Hamad Al Jehani shipped to Woodbine to win the Grade 1 Canadian International with Silawi last October, a month after winning Woodbine’s Singspiel with Haunted Dream. The Magic Man, legendary Hong Kong jockey Joao Moreira, will ride for the first time.
#5-IRISH ACES: Kentucky-based Brendan Walsh trainee makes a third straight trip to Woodbine to see action, following narrow defeats in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup (second) and Grade 2 King Edward (third). This $40,000 Mshawish bargain has bagged more than $650,000, but his only stakes win has come in the 2024 Tapit at Kentucky Downs. Local jockey Pietro Moran has been aboard both recent invasions and returns to the saddle in search of his first Woodbine Mile victory.
#6-SILIUS: French colt won the Group 3 Prix Messidor at Chantilly in July for the biggest score of his career. He’s 10: 1-4-2 in group stakes races, but was eighth in the 2025 Prix Jean Prat in his only Group 1 attempt to date. Trainer Christophe Ferland travels this one outside France for the first time; the barn sent Lyneham to Saratoga on Monday when finishing seventh in the Gio Ponti Stakes (his first North American starter). Jockey John Velazquez holds the Woodbine Mile record with 5 victories in this race, most recently World Approval in 2017. This is a third offspring of super-sire Dubawi in this 8-horse field.
#7-ITSASTORMYMONDAY: Rank outsider in the field for local trainer Don MacRae will be making his stakes debut. The 4-year-old Get Stormy gelding has won 2 straight at the meet and is 5-for-9 lifetime, all at Woodbine. Regular rider Rafael Hernandez will be aboard.
#8-PIERRE: Sold for $100,000 in June at a Fasig-Tipton digital sale and purchased by Lawrence Roman, who transferred the 5-year-old to trainer David Jacobson. The 2-time Woodbine meet allowance winner ran a strong second by a nose at Saratoga in the allowance ranks for his new connections August 27 and wheels back on 16 days’ rest. Joins Gas Me Up as the only Canadian-breds in the Woodbine Mile cast. This Tapiture gelding makes his first stakes attempt since finishing off the board in a pair of 2024 Canadian Triple Crown bids. Jockey Javier Castellano takes the mount for the first time in search of his first Woodbine Mile trophy.
For more coverage of the Woodbine Mile, check back Friday for Matt Bernier's "One for the Money" weekly big-race analysis.
.svg){kind=logo}
