Notable Speech squeezes and rallies on the rail under William Buick. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Classic Saturday: FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) Presented by PDJF
Breeders’ Cup Release
DEL MAR, Calif. – Godolphin’s homebred Notable Speech (GB) ($7.20) found running room along the rail in the stretch and burst through for a 1 1/2-length victory over Formidable Man to win the 42nd running of the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) Presented by PDJF for 3-year-olds and up Saturday afternoon at Del Mar.
Trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, Notable Speech covered the mile on a firm turf course in 1:33.66. It is the fourth time Appleby and Buick have teamed up to win the Mile. Appleby has 12 World Championships victories and Buick 10.
Longshots One Stripe (SAF) and Qirat (GB) led the field of 13 through fractions of :22.59 and :46.76 as Notable Speech saved ground in midpack. On the turn, Rhetorical made a huge sweeping move that propelled him to the front in the stretch where he opened a daylight advantage.
However, Buick had a clear path along the inside and rushed past Rhetorical at midstretch and drew off for the victory.
A 4-year-old son of Dubawi (IRE) out of the Invincible Spirit (IRE) mare Swift Rose (IRE), Notable Speech earned his fourth Grade or Group 1 victory and boosted his earnings to $3,190,342 with Saturday’s $1,040,000 pay day. His record stands at 14-7-1-1.
Quotes:
Winning trainer Charlie Appleby (Notable Speech (GB)) – “He’s a horse we’ve always thought highly of. He came here and had a great trip around there and was comfortable the whole way. He was following the right horse, there, and I knew The Lion In Winter (IRE) would take him into the race from where he was. We were always waiting for the cutaway—that’s all it was. He had to get out and get on that fence and ride that rail, but he’s the right horse to do with that, you know.
“Last year, he was the highest-profile horse we ever brought here. He is tailor-made for this track and I know he’s had to learn how to run it, but the experience around Woodbine was the making of it to come into a race like today. Then Will’s ride around there was copybook. If you could ever wrote a script on how to go around there, that was how. He got him out, got a nice pitch two or three back and we always knew we have the cutaway here—even if he was a couple lengths off of them at the cutaway, he’s got that electric turn-of-foot that we’ve seen throughout his career. I was confident. I know some people would have been praying for the cutaway, but I wasn’t, really, because I thought the longer that Will could sit tight and be kept tight on the rail, the better. As soon as that cutaway comes, he’s electric. If anything, you would want to come late on him, because no one has a turn-of-foot like him and he knows where the winning line is.”
Second-place trainer Michael McCarthy (Formidable Man) – “I thought that was kind of what we were looking for – bounce on out of there and try to establish some position early. I thought Johnny did a wonderful job of getting over and getting us into the clear turning up the backside. The fractions were obviously solid. Was within striking distance coming to the three- eighths pole, leveled off through the lane. The winner is an incredible sort. Certainly no disgrace in running second to him.”
Second-place jockey John Velazquez (Formidable Man) – “We tried to save as much as ground as I could. One of the European horses stopped in front of me, so I had to go around him and then we engaged with The Lion In Winter. I really thought I had them but then someone else (Notable Speech) come up the inside and beat all of us.”
Third-place jockey Christophe Soumillion (The Lion in Winter (IRE)) –
Fourth-place jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (Rhetorical) – “He was moving great. He turned on a little earlier than I wanted to, honestly. He was a little aggressive when he changed leads on the second turn, so I tried to hold him together. He started going by and was passing the horse on the lead. We go to the quarter pole and it was time to let him do his thing. He ran all the way to the wire. I think he got beat by all nice horses.”
Fifth-place jockey Mickael Barzalona (Sahlan (IRE)) – “He ran a good race. We got a bit outpaced down the backstretch but he picked up well and was never nearer at the finish.”
