September 4, 2008
Entries were taken and post positions were drawn on Thursday morning for Sunday's $1 million Woodbine Mile (G1), a 1 mile trip over Woodbine's E.P. Taylor Turf Course for older horses. In this its 12th running, the Mile joins the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" program, with the winner earning a spot in the Breeders' Cup Mile field.
IEAH Stables' Kip Deville, the top-ranked turf miler in North America, is the 6-5 morning line favourite and will break from post four. The Richard Dutrow trainee is on a three-race win streak. After finishing second to favoured Shakespeare in last year's Woodbine Mile, he captured the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Monmouth Park in October, then the Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland and the Poker Handicap at Belmont Park. Dutrow said, "He's been doing great since (the Woodbine Mile) last yeear. He's just been in a zone of his own. He's incredible. He's doing unbelievable. I'm just really excited about being able to watch him run again. He certainly appears to be (a better horse than last year). He's just so much more confident in himself. He's matured into that type of a horse. The way he is now, we kind of just let him fall into the race the way he wants to because he knows what to do and when to do it. If he finds himself on the lead, that's fine with us." Regular rider Cornelio Velasquez will be in the irons on Sunday.
Juddmonte Farms' Kentucky-bred Ventura, a four-year-old daughter of Chester House, is the 4-1 second choice in the morning line and will be trying to become the first filly to win the Woodbine Mile. Trained by Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, Ventura comes into the Mile off a nose loss to Diamond Diva in the $750,000 CashCall Mile at Hollywood Park on July 5. She's won three of five starts this year in the United States, including the Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes on June 7 at Belmont Park, after campaigning in England as a two and three-year-old.
On the undercard, the $750,000 Northern Dancer Stakes (G1) at 1 1/2 miles on the turf drew a contentious, classy field of ten older horses. 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now is the 5-2 favorite and will break from the 5 hole. He was second to Grand Couturier in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga last time out, and then before that, finished third behind Red Rocks and Curlin in the Man O'War at Belmont Park. Regular rider Ramon Dominguez will be aboard the 9-year-old gelded son of Talkin Man on Sunday afternoon. In to challenge the Graham Motion trainee include German invader Quijano, who was third in last year's Canadian International, the 3-1 second choice out of post 2. His last start was a distant second in the Deutchland Preis at Dusseldorf after winning the Gran Premio di Milano at San Siro. Andrasch Starke gets the call again for trainer Peter Schiergen. IEAH Stable and trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. will look for the Grade 1 sweep with Suburban Handicap winner Frost Giant out of post 3 as the 6-1 third choice. Rudy Rodriguez, who was aboard for the 40-1 upset at Belmont Park, gets the call again.
The two Grade 1 races will be shown live in a special 2 hour telecast on The Score network in Canada starting at 4PM ET. The Woodbine card, which also includes the $300,000 Canadian Stakes (G2) for fillies and mares going 9 furlongs on the turf, will be available on simulcast across North America.
Free past performances are available for all three stakes on the card:
Woodbine Mile (from the nominations, so ignore the extra horses)
Northern Dancer Stakes
Canadian Stakes
| The Woodbine Mile (G1) $1,000,000 | ||||
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
| 1 | Mulmur | Mark Frostad | Eurico Rosa da Silva | 10-1 |
| 2 | Rahy's Attorney | Ian Black | Slade Callaghan | 12-1 |
| 3 | Just Rushing | Sid Attard | Jim McAleney | 5-1 |
| 4 | Kip Deville | Richard Dutrow Jr. | Cornelio Velasquez | 6-5 |
| 5 | Wollemi Pine | Ian Black | Emma-Jayne Wilson | 6-1 |
| 6 | Ice Bear | Mac Benson | Chantal Sutherland | 15-1 |
| 7 | Palladio | Roger Attfield | Richard Dos Ramos | 20-1 |
| 8 | Ventura | Robert Frankel | Garrett Gomez | 4-1 |
| The Northern Dancer Stakes (G1) $750,000 | ||||
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
| 1 | Cloudy's Knight | Frank Kirby | James Graham | 12-1 |
| 2 | Quijano | Peter Schiergen | Andreas Starke | 3-1 |
| 3 | Frost Giant | Richard Dutrow Jr. | Rudy Rodriguez | 6-1 |
| 4 | Champs Elysees | Bobby Frankel | Garrett Gomez | 8-1 |
| 5 | Better Talk Now | Graham Motion | Ramon Dominguez | 5-2 |
| 6 | Strike a Deal | Alan Goldberg | Rajiv Maragh | 12-1 |
| 7 | Spice Route | Roger Attfield | Jim McAleney | 15-1 |
| 8 | March Side | Neil Drysdale | Mike Smith | 20-1 |
| 9 | French Beret | Mark Frostad | Eurico Rosa da Silva | 12-1 |
| 10 | Seaside Retreat | Mark Casse | Patrick Husbands | 10-1 |
