In The Money Telegraph
Saturday, September 12, 2026 · By ITM Staff
Turf Champions Day at Woodbine
The best turf card on the continent this weekend is up north. Woodbine’s Turf Champions Day stacks four Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In’’ races on one afternoon — the first time the track has hosted four Challenge Series races in a single day — all over the E.P. Taylor turf course, with first post at 1 p.m. ET and free admission.
The $1 million Woodbine Mile headlines, offering a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and it drew an international field led by defending champion Notable Speech for Godolphin and the unbeaten Deterministic, riding a six-race graded winning streak. PTF has a full horse-by-horse guide to the Mile at At The Races — he makes Notable Speech the most likely winner while taking an each-way flier on the fast-improving York shipper Archivist. Read his Woodbine Mile guide → PTF is on the call for Sky Sports Racing from Woodbine this weekend.
He also has horse-by-horse guides to two more of the day’s Grade 1s at At The Races — the two-year-old Summer Stakes and the fillies-and-mares E.P. Taylor, both Breeders’ Cup qualifiers. In the Summer his pick is the Miguel Clement–trained Oscar, a colt whose sharp debut PTF flagged back in August and whose form has franked strongly since; in the E.P. Taylor, drawing three European shippers, he lands on the lightly raced Jancis, with the returning Diamond Rain the one to beat on overall profile. Read PTF on the Summer Stakes and the E.P. Taylor. (The two-year-old Natalma rounds out the four Grade 1s.)
PTF and JK went through the full Woodbine Mile card together, too. Watch below.
Looking Ahead: The New Belmont Opens
Six days out sits the fall’s landmark: the rebuilt Belmont Park, three years and $455 million in the making, reopens Friday, September 18, anchored by the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup — a “Win and You’re In’’ to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, live on FOX, with opening day already sold out.
The bad news: the marquee showdown won’t happen. Reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty is out of the race — the hind-foot abscess that clouded his prep didn’t clear in time — leaving Japan’s 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young as the headliner and likely favorite. He’ll face a field that includes Nitrogen, Phileas Fogg, and two horses ITM followers know well from Charles Town: the multimillionaire Banishing and Classic winner Willy D’s. Both PTF and JK will be on television for the opening; any Sovereignty–Forever Young rematch now waits for the Breeders’ Cup itself.
Around the Cards
A new Derby trail begins. The road to the 153rd Kentucky Derby opens today with the first points race of the season, the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs, where Bob Baffert’s Salahudin is the one to beat. Eric Solomon has the full field. Read the preview →
Monmouth. The final Saturday of the meet before the season shifts to the Meadowlands, first post 12:50 p.m. ET. Solomon’s card →
Out West and Mid-Atlantic. Dean Keppler makes The Big Cheeseola his best bet at Los Alamitos, and Will Humphrey has tips and trip notes for Laurel Park.
Irish Champions Weekend. Five Breeders’ Cup Challenge races run in Ireland this weekend, part of a stellar European card with Classics on both sides of the Irish Sea. Steven Bonnick previews the lot in his UK & Europe roundup on the site.
ITM Plus
Fall Championship Season Is Here
Turf Champions Day at Woodbine, Irish Champions Weekend, a new Derby trail, and a rebuilt Belmont opening next week — the road to the Breeders’ Cup is on. ITM Plus members get daily written selections, the members’ bet share, exclusive shows, and full coverage all the way to Keeneland.
More all weekend at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.
