Woodbine Mile Stakes (Grade 1)

GODOLPHIN sent three favourites to the big Grade 1 Woodbine meeting last weekend, all three went off favourite and they came away with two wins.

It was no surprise that Notable Speech proved too strong for his five rivals in winning the Woodbine Mile Stakes for a second consecutive year. He did have a strong US rival to overcome in Deterministic, who was on a six-race win streak, including four Grade 1s, and in the end, the US horse lost little in defeat as he attempted to make all under Kendrick Carmouche.

After his win here last year, Notable Speech had gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, which earned him the 2025 Eclipse Award for champion turf male.

The Godolphin home-bred, a five-year-old son of Dubawi, raced behind horses for much of the race, but was never far off the pace that Deterministic set with decent sectionals over the firm course.

Turn of foot

With three furlongs remaining, Notable Speech needed running room, but William Buick found a seam turning for home that the horse found his turn of foot and he raced to victory by a length and a quarter.

Alex Merriam, Appleby’s assistant at the track said: “He’s a tough horse. I think (Deterministic) had it fairly easy in front. Once (Buick) got him out, he has such a turn of foot.”

Winning his third Group/Grade 1 of the season, Notable Speech will likely look to repeat in this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. The Woodbine Mile was his 10th career win from 19 starts.

E. P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1)

COMING from her native South Africa unbeaten, the six-year-old mare Gimme A Nother is now making a name for herself in North America and made it four wins in a row for the Graham Motion stable, as the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight won her first Grade 1 in the E. P. Taylor Stakes.

Owned by Steven and Jessica Jell’s Newstead Stables, Gimme A Nother went to the front but saved ground off the early leaders in the mile and a quarter turf race under John Velazquez.

In the straight, it looked at one stage as if any of four could win, as Willie McCreery’s Jancis was produced with her run on the outside and Rob Hornby coming even wider with Andrew Balding’s See The Fire, while Godolphin’s favourite Diamond Rain tried to find some extra in the centre of the charge.

To the line, it was Gimme A Nother who found the little extra, as See The Fire just pipped Jancis for second with another British runner, Venetian Lace in fourth.

Gimme A Nother had her first outing in the US last March and has already won the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar, and this year’s Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth and Colonial Downs’ Grade 2 Beverly D. Stakes.

Graham Motion, who has trained the mare since her arrival, had wanted to run her in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but he’s hopeful the plan will still come to fruition this year.

“She came to me undefeated. That was a lot of pressure, but she’s been remarkable. Hoped to get her to the Breeders’ Cup last year and didn’t quite work out. Ever since we gave her a little break over the winter, she’s been unbeatable,” he was quoted. “You have so much confidence when Johnny is riding. He said even today that she was a better horse than she was last time.”

Summer Stakes (Grade 1)

AL Hudaiba got the ball rolling for Godolphin in justifying odds-on favouritism in the Summer Stakes over a mile, but not before again showing wayward tendencies that caused him to unseat his rider earlier in the summer at Yarmouth.

The son of Dark Angel had taken it up and was heading for victory when he hung suddenly out into the middle of the track. William Buick was already wide and clear of other horses, so there was no interference.

Al Hudaiba had won three races in five starts in this season, including the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

Buick said in a post-race interview: “He’s done it when winning races and he’s done it when not winning races. He was straightforward today until inside the last furlong, really. He’s a very talented colt and to still win like he did doing that, you have to have a fair level of ability.”

He completed the distance a tad slower than Voyager in the Natalma Stakes earlier on the card. Charlie Appleby and Godolphin were winning the Summer for a third time.

In the race for juvenile fillies the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes, there were no overseas runners and the Justify filly Voyager made headway on the outer over two furlongs out for Javier Castellano, led and kept on down the centre of the course to win by a length and a quarter for trainer Mark Casse, who had saddled five of the 11 runners.

The favourite Lamirada could only manage seventh.

LEADING US rider Florent Geroux remains in hospital in the US after a bad fall when a two-year-old broke down at Churchill Downs on Thursday night of last week.

He spent time in ICU according to his agent, Matt Nakatani, and suffered broken ribs and a damaged kidney, but was expected to be discharged next week.