The $150,000, Grade 3 Salvator Mile Stakes Saturday at Monmouth Park drew a field of nine, led by $2.5 million earner Bishops Bay. Bishops Bay won this race in 2025, and previously finished second in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes. He also won the Grade 2 Cigar Mile Handicap last December.
East Avenue most notably won the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Stakes in the fall of 2024 and the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes last year. Point Dume enters the Salvator Mile with 11 career wins, the most among the field, including a win in the Grade 2 Carter Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets in April. Grande has two wins in three starts this year, including a win in the Grade 3 Ghostzapper Stakes Presented by FanDuel TV in March. Giocoso is best known as a turf horse, winning the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes and the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes, both in 2025. Grand Mo the First enters the race off an allowance win in April after having been off for nearly a year. Sea Streak won a pair of stakes, the Long Branch Stakes and the Charles Hesse III Stakes, both in 2024. He was off for more than 18 months before finishing eighth in his last race in March. Offaly Cool has not raced since winning the Mayor’s Mile Stakes last August. Otter Mischief has finished first or second in all but one of his last nine races, including a second-place finish in the City of Laurel Stakes last November.
Top contenders and analysis:
Point Dume has the best shot to beat the Salvator Mile favorite, Bishops Bay, because Point Dume is the only other horse to have won a Grade 2 stakes race aside from Bishops Boy. Point Dume won the Carter Stakes in April and earned a 102 Equibase Speed Figure, compared to Bishops Bay, who won the Cigar Stakes last December and earned a 115 figure. Before that, Point Dume had two straight wins, including the General George Stakes, when he earned a career-best 111 Equibase figure. Point Dume and Bishops Bay have had similar results in their last four best races, with Point Dume averaging a 107 figure compared to 108 for Bishops Bay. He also has had more success racing at the one-mile distance. In his last race, Point Dume finished 10th in the higher-class Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford, where he raced eighth early and never showed up. I will draw a line over that race. Since Point Dume is likely to be in front early, as he was in his last five wins when he led from start to finish, he can get his 12th career win in the Salvator Mile.
Bishops Bay likes to win, having posted nine victories in 15 career starts, and he’s finished worse than second only twice, in the Forego Stakes last summer and in the Saudi Cup in February. His fourth-place finish in the Saudi Cup was behind possibly the best handicap horse in the world, Forever Young, who also won the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic last November. In May 2025, Bishops Bay won the Westchester Stakes with a 111 ESF, then won the Salvator Stakes with a 110. He then won the Forty Niner last November before winning the Cigar Mile. In his second start of 2026, Bishops Bay finished second in the Westchester, where he earned a 103 Equibase figure, which was seven points lower than his win in last year’s Salvator Mile – but in his third race of the year, he should improve and could win or finish second in this spot.
Otter Mischief finished first or second in eight of his nine recent races. His best Equibase figures were 107 and 109, and his career-best effort came in his most recent race. At just 4 years old, Otter Mischief has room to improve and should have high odds, given that he has run in a stakes race only once when he finished second in the City of Laurel Stakes. However, I absolutely think this horse can be part of the exacta.
I was thinking about Offaly Cool, who posted a 3-3-1 record in his seven 2025 races. He earned his best figures of 107 and 114 in his last year, and he previously earned a 113 ESF in 2023. However, it is difficult for a horse to come off a 10-month layoff and run that well again, especially among some of the best horses in this year's Salvator Mile. I can’t use him as a win bet, but some others may decide to use him.
The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures in similar races, is East Avenue (104), Giocoso (107), Grande (103), Grand Mo the First (99), and Sea Streak (104).
Win Contenders in preference/probability order:
Point Dume
Bishops Bay
Otter Mischief
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