The wait is over and live racing returns to Keeneland for the 2025 fall meet beginning Friday, Oct. 3. Eight Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series races are on tap for an incredible Fall Stars weekend of racing in the Bluegrass, including the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes on Saturday.
The Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile drew a full field of 12, including five millionaires, attempting to punch their ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Mile in four weeks. Donegal Momentum drew the rail post coming off a pacesetting victory after stumbling at the start in the Bernard Baruch Stakes at Saratoga in August. Quatrocento will be making his stakes debut for trainer Fausto Gutierrez fresh off back-to-back wins at the allowance-optional claiming level going one mile on the turf at Kentucky Downs. Howard Wolowitz will be making his second start since returning to North America following a bid in the Group 2 1351 Turf Sprint Presented by Boutique Group in Saudi Arabia and will stretch out beyond a sprint distance for the first time in his career. Diego Velazquez is the 7-2 morning-line favorite coming into the race off a Group 1 win in the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville in France for trainer Aidan O’Brien. Woodshauna is also coming out of a Group 1 race at Deauville and will be stretching out to a mile for the first time in his career for his North American debut. Mercante has two Grade 3 wins under his belt and is looking for his fourth career win at this one-mile distance. Epic Ride led from start to finish last time out to win the $2.5 million FanDuel TV Mint Millions Invitational Stakes at Kentucky Downs by two lengths at odds of 14.27-1 for trainer John Ennis. Program Trading is a three-time Grade 1 winner and will be making his second start off a 14-month layoff for the powerhouse trio of owner Klaravich Stables, trainer Chad Brown, and jockey Flavien Prat. Rhetorical will be making his first start outside of New York for trainer Will Walden and has a career record of four wins from five starts. Rhetorical’s lone defeat was a third-place finish by just three-quarters of a length, and he retains Irad Ortiz Jr. in the saddle. Walden and Ortiz Jr. have won at a tremendous 38% clip all time with eight wins from 21 career starts together. Brilliant Berti has earned seven straight triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures going into the Turf Mile and has a career record of four wins from six starts at this mile distance on grass. Beach Gold set a course record at Ellis Park two starts back when winning the KY Downs Preview Mint Millions Turf Mile Stakes in a final time of 1:31.76 for trainer Patrick Biancone. Jonquil, who rounds out the field in post-position 12, is fresh off a win in the Group 2 Virgin Bet Celebration Mile Stakes at Goodwood in England and will be making his North American debut with Dylan Davis getting the mount aboard the Juddmonte homebred.
Analysis and Main Contenders:
Jonquil is one of only two 3-year-olds entered in Saturday’s Turf Mile and will make his North American debut for trainer Andrew Balding. He began his career as a seven-furlong turf sprinter, winning his debut at Sandown Park in August 2024, then proved his class with a win in a Group 3 stakes at Newbury off a seven-month layoff in his third career start. That effort earned him a trip to France, where he stretched out to a mile for the first time in the Group 1 Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas) at Longchamp in May. He ran a huge race, just missing by a head to 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Henri Matisse. Following his runner-up finish at Longchamp, Jonquil returned to sprinting but failed to fire in either the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot or the Group 2 HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes at Goodwood. However, last time out he put any doubts about his talent at a mile to rest, winning the Group 2 Celebration Mile Stakes by a neck in a thrilling finish. Balding hasn’t shipped many horses to North America (just four starts in the last two years), but he’s won twice with that small sample. Jonquil also has a published Keeneland turf workout on Sept. 30, and at 15-1 morning-line odds he looks like a major value play in this spot, particularly at this mile distance on the turf.
Like Jonquil, Program Trading was bred in England and sired by Lope de Vega. After he was purchased as a yearling at Tattersalls, however, Program Trading was shipped to the U.S., where he has made all eight career starts for Brown and Klaravich Stables. In his 3-year-old campaign, Program Trading was virtually unstoppable. He won his first three starts, including a victory in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes in August 2023. Following a second-place finish in the New Kent County Virginia Derby in his fourth career start, he closed out his 3-year-old season with a win in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. Program Trading earned his second-straight Grade 1 victory in the 2024 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs, earning a then-career-best 110 Equibase Speed Figure despite a five-month layoff. His only off-the-board finish came in June 2024, when he finished fifth in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Saratoga, beaten by 2 ½ lengths by winner Measured Time while earning a 117 speed figure. Following that race, Program Trading was sidelined for more than 14 months before returning in the Bernard Baruch in August, when he ran a solid second behind fellow Coolmore Turf Mile entrant Donegal Momentum. He has earned six consecutive triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures and will turn back in distance to a mile for the first time in his career. He ranks second in both average class (113) and average speed (110) and comes into this race with three Grade 1 wins on the turf. Prat, who has been aboard in each of his last seven starts, retains the mount. Over the past year, Prat has excelled in graded stakes turf routes, winning 23 of 85 (27%) while riding 62% in-the-money.
Diego Velazquez ranks first in here in both average class (116) and average speed (112) and is fresh off a win in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois in France at odds of 17-1. The 4-year-old Frankel colt has won four of his last five starts, all in group stakes races in Europe. This will be trainer O’Brien’s first starter in North America since his two Breeders’ Cup wins last November at Del Mar. Frankie Dettori will be aboard on Saturday as he looks for his first career North American victory aboard an O’Brien-trained horse. With three wins from six career starts at this mile distance and a proven turn of foot against top-level horses in Europe, Diego Velazquez looks poised to use the Coolmore Turf Mile as a launching pad toward the Breeders’ Cup.
The rest of the field (with best Equibase Speed Figure in similar races): Donegal Momentum (108), Quatrocento (110), Howard Wolowitz (111), Woodshauna (FR) (122), Mercante (113), Epic Ride (115), Rehtorical (103), Brilliant Berti (108), Beach Gold (116).
Win Contenders in Preference Order:
Jonquil
Program Trading
Diego Velazquez
