WO Mile – Grade I
1 Mile Turf Graded Stake Purse $1,000.000 Three-Year-Olds and upward. At WO

WO Mile dates back to 2006, and it’s always been an important race on the docket. The first winner was the legend:  Jerry Garcia Racing’s Alpha Ultimo… over $11,000.000 of earnings… 38 wins… 57 itm’s. Many other famed multimillionaires won the race, too many to mention, although we should mention that Cherrytree Hill Farm’s Compress won it twice in 2016 and 2917. Other owners: Nakamura Stables, won twice, Riggins Racing won twice and has one of the favourites in today. Both TwinTowersRacing and Mb Stables have won twice and have three in with at least one short odd chance hoping for that third. Here’s the field:

Horse                                  Owner                                Odds  SRF

Poison Arrow                     Mb Stables                        *2-1        100

Giannis                               Riggins Racing                   3-1        102

Snidely Whiplash                TwinTowersRacing             7-2        102

Distant Breeze                    The Sidley Stud                  4-1        100

Orange Man Awesome       Lanfranco Stable                 5-1          95

Killer Instinct                      Mb Stables                         3-1        101

Lifeline                                D J C Racing Stables          6-1          98

Spin Zone                           Mb Stables                          8-1          96

Booker                                TwinTowersRacing            10-1          97      

Suit Up                                Night Rider Stables           20-1          96

Chilled Niagra                     Maxmillion Farm               20-1          96

Bronze Crown                    TwinTowersRacing            20-1          95

1  Chilled Niagra                     Maxmillion Farm                  96

Chilled Niagra has been devoted to strictly sprinting since being claimed from Alydar Stables for $25.000 last June. As claims go, it was a clever one. Within two races, his new owner had scored the grade three Turf Monster Handicap at PRX. Since then, he has been fed a steady diet of turf sprint stakes races and has been performing well. It is not lost on his connection that way back in 2023, he was sent out on a turf route for his first turf race, and he won clear. So, why not a one mile, $1,000.000 turf grade one stakes?

2  Suit Up                  Night Rider Stables           96

Suit Up tried a 1 1/4 mile grade stakes and got left behind, so his trainer is going to gear it back a quarter. He’s only had two lifetime turf route races, and the other one was an allowance race at one mile at WO, and he won that smartly. So, step back and give it a shot.

3   Lifeline                       D J C Racing Stables         98

Lifeline has been around forever, changing hands frequently, testing out stakes races occasionally, and most recently was claimed from London Racing for $40.000 and was put back to work in stakes races and placed well in a couple of them, interestingly the $350.000 Opening Verse at CD which seems enough for his current trainer to try him in these one mile grade one stakes.

4   Booker                TwinTowersRacing                    97

Booker in his current form may seriously be in here as a rabbit for his stablemates. He really came undone in the Kelso last out and fared even worse in the Forester Turf Classic race before, posting the lowest SRF of his life.

5   Bronze Crown             TwinTowersRacing              95

If Booker is a rabbit, Bronze Crown may be his partner in crime because his form has really been off as of late. The last time he placed in a stakes race was in August ’24. Thing is, Snidely Whiplash doesn’t need much rabbiting because he likes to run toward the front in his own right. Well, I ain’t smart enough to know what their trainer is up to, so when I get down there, I’ll just talk about what Snidely Whiplash does.

6   Poison Arrow               Mb Stables         100

Only 18 races and Poison Arrow has already amassed over $3,000.000. Since switching over to turf four races ago, he has won or placed in all big money stakes races. He started with winning the $350.000 Opening Verse, then at 91-1 he ran third in the grade one Shoemaker Mile, then second a nose in the grade three Kelso Stakes and then in his most recent, stretched out to 1 1/4 mile grade one AP Million and ran second. He seems primed to win this race pure and simple.

7   Orange Man Awesome                 Lanfranco Stable             95

A five-year-old with only five lifetime races, Orange Man Awesome was purchased at auction from Mb Stables for $3.010 and ran sixth in his MNR debut and that was that. He was then moved to the bigs, and his record there for four starts is three wins and a second, and that second is his only stakes start: second to Poison Arrow in the $350.000 Opening Verse. All I can say is this horse could be anything.

8   Spin Zone                  Mb Stables             96

Spin Zone arrives here off back-to-back grade three wins in turf sprints. This precocious three-year-old has won half of his starts, and although he has been recently concentrating on sprints, is no stranger to routes and has won two one mile turf races, including a $150.000 stakes.

9   Giannis                      Riggins Racing              102

Giannis was runner-up in this race last year and tuned up for this by winning the grade two King Edward BC Stakes for the second year in a row. That’s just about enough to make him the favourite for this race this year. Since winning the ’24 King Edward, he has run nothing but one mile races… a true one mile specialist. That includes a run in the BC Mile which didn’t go all that well, but this ain’t the BC and this is a great chance for him.

10   Distant Breeze                   The Sidley Stud             100

By running second in the grade three Iselin Stakes at MTH, Distant Breeze ended a four-race winning streak that included three graded stakes races and a $300.00 stakes race, two of which were one mile races. All of these recent races have been on the dirt, but that shouldn’t scare you off, since he was once a nearly full-time turf runner. He spent years as a claimer, changing hands every now and then. It wasn’t until The Sidley Stud acquired him from Lindeman Prairie for $7.010 at auction that his fate changed and he started winning stakes races.

11   Killer Instinct                     Mb Stables              101

Approaching $5,000.000 in earnings, Killer Instinct almost seems like he should be one of the favourites and may very well be, but he may also prefer to go a little longer. He won two of his last three races, and mostly because they were well over a mile. The grade one Whitney was only 1 1/8 mile and he didn’t get there in time in his last. He’s the winner of just about every race he’s in. It’s just that the finish line gets there too soon. Four races back it was the grade one Makers Mark Mile and they made him 10-1 because it was only a mile, and he came within a half-length of winning that one anyway.

12   Snidely Whiplash                     TwinTowersRacing                 102

It took Snidely Whiplash fifteen races to win and another six to find himself, but now he’s a stakes horse. He changed back over to turf four races ago and ran fourth in the grade three American Stakes at SA, then second in the grade three Poker Stakes at SAR, both at one mile, and second in the grade two King Edward BC Stakes at WO most recently. He looks a tough one to beat, rabbits or no rabbits.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES