Saturday, Race #6: The Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile
(Turf – 1 Mile) 3 YO+
Purse: $2 Million
Historically the Breeder’s Cup Mile has been a very competitive contest and this year’s edition should be no different. Pre-Entrants consisting of 12 runners representing 5 different countries should help add enough intrigue and complexity to help us find some value on a day that should present lots of opportunities. The ability to finish strong and the affinity for the fast-dry grass of the Santa Anita turf course will be the guidelines for horses to be on our short list of potential winners; let’s get to it.
With our guidelines from above, we can begin to look at runners who can sustain the heat or can come with a big run to catch the early runners as they begin to slow down at a much faster rate. That leaves us with about 3 runners to choose from, (Mawj, Master of The Seas, Songline) All have proven or project to be the best applicants to fil those roles.
#6 Mawj (4-1 ML) is a 3 year-old filly that has taken her show on the road all over the world and has won her last four starts. She has shown the ability to press and pounce with the best of them. She is trained by bin Suroor Saeed and campaigned by Godolphin who has won this race for the past 2 years. Speaking of Godolphin they also are campaigning #14 Master of The Seas (7-2 ML) who is trained by Charles Appleby. This gelding’s turf pedigree is strong, and he has a turn of foot that is second to none in this race. Last, but not least is #10 Songline (5-2 ML Favorite). Songline is a Japanese bred and Japanese trained 5 year-old mare who past performances I don’t have the ability to see in detail, but we can see that she is running competitive in Graded Stakes races and her races at the mile distance are her most productive. That knowledge coupled along with the continued success of the Japan thoroughbred program in recent years is enough to include her in conversation for win consideration.
Let’s make it happen.
