The $1 million, Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes Sept. 16 at Woodbine has become a marquee fixture at the Ontario track that is one of the most prized races for turf milers in North America.

The race typically attracts an international ensemble as a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” qualifying race for the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF, providing the winner an expenses-paid berth to the race Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park. 

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First held in 1988 as the Molson Export Million for 3-year-olds and moved to turf and to its current distance in 1997, the Woodbine Mile has been won by star racehorses such as Leroidesanimaux, Shakespeare, Ventura, Wise Dan (twice), Tepin, World Approval, and Modern Games.

The Woodbine Mile will be televised live on NBC and be sure to tune in to the “Woodbine Live!” livestream presented by America’s Best Racing and Woodbine for the ultimate second-screen experience for horse racing fans and bettors.

Read on for information about all of the Ricoh Woodbine Mile horses. Check back after the post-position draw Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. ET for an updated Cheat Sheet with contenders listed in post-position order and with morning-line odds added.

Eclipse Sportswire

1. Master of The Seas (Even-money morning-line odds)

Jockey: William Buick

Trainer: Charles Appleby

Owner: Godolphin

Career record: 13 starts – 6 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $540,899

Earnings per start: $41,608

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 119

Pedigree: Dubawi – Firth of Lorne, by Danehill

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: A year ago trainer Charles Appleby shipped Modern Games over from Europe to win the Woodbine Mile for owner-breeder Godolphin and he will try to duplicate the feat in 2023 with Master of The Seas. While this 5-year-old Dubawi gelding does not have the credentials of Modern Games, he has won a pair of Group 2 stakes this year, one in January in Dubai and most recently the Fred Cowley MBE Memorial Summer Mile Stakes July 15 at Ascot. Master of The Seas also has back class as the runner-up (by a nose) in the 2021 QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas and he seems best-suited to this one-mile distance for a trainer who does not ship across the Atlantic unless he believes he can win. He should be tucked in just behind My Sea Cottage and War Bomber and could be very tough to beat in this spot as the probable favorite. Jockey William Buick was aboard Modern Games for his win in last year’s Woodbine Mile.

Michael Burns/Woodbine

2. War Bomber (6-1)

Jockey: Rico Walcott

Trainer: Norman McKnight

Owner: Bruno Schickedanz

Career record: 19 starts – 7 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $396,230

Earnings per start: $20,854

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 112

Pedigree: War Front – Sun Shower, by Indian Ridge

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: A year ago War Bomber finished ninth, beaten by 15 ¾ lengths, in the Woodbine Mile after making his previous five starts on the synthetic main track at Woodbine. He had previous experience and success on the grass at Woodbine in 2021, but had been consistently competing on the main track, and after the Woodbine Mile he made his final three starts of 2022 on the synthetic surface there. After struggling on synthetic in his first two races this year, War Bomber has shown improvement on grass with a second-place finish by a length to Dream Shake in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup Stakes Presented by Bulleit Bourbon and a win by a neck over Treason in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes Aug. 19 at this one-mile distance. War Bomber would need to take a small step forward in terms of speed figures to be a viable win candidate, but recent success on this turf course offers more reason for optimism than a year ago when he was a nonfactor at 51.20-1 odds. A full-brother to Group 1 winner Lancaster Bomber, runner-up in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Mile, War Bomber should benefit from a clean trip tucked in just behind My Sea Cottage.

Eclipse Sportswire

3. Shirl’s Speight (5-2)

Jockey: John Velazquez

Trainer: Roger L. Attfield

Owner: Charles Fipke

Career record: 17 starts – 5 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $1,267,451

Earnings per start: $74,556

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 119

Pedigree: Speightstown – Perfect Shirl, by Perfect Soul

Age: 6

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Shirl’s Speight proved capable of a massive performance against top competition last November at Keeneland when he was runner-up to Modern Games in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF. Beaten by less than a length in that race, Shirl’s Speight earned a career-top 119 Equibase Speed Figure that stamps him a win contender against this field. Since that race, however, the 6-year-old by Speightstown is unplaced in three starts in 2023, albeit against quality opposition. Shirl’s Speight also has not won a race on the grass at Woodbine since his career debut in July 2020. In fact, he is unplaced in his last three races on the Woodbine turf, including a fourth-place finish in which he was beaten by seven lengths in last year’s Woodbine Mile and most recently a fourth in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes Aug. 19 at this one-mile distance. A win candidate with some questions for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield, who won this race in 1990 with Izvestia and in 1993 with Peteski when the race was a 1 1/8-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds called the Molson Export Million. Attfield enlists the services of John Velazquez to ride Saturday. The Hall of Famer is the all-time winningest jockey in the Woodbine Mile with five victories: Riviera (2000); Leroidesanimaux (2005); Wise Dan (2012 and 2013); and World Approval (2017).

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4. Ice Chocolat (9-2)

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owners: Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Peter Deutsch

Career record: 18 starts – 5 wins – 5 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $236,718

Earnings per start: $13,151

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 113

Pedigree: Goldikovic – Amor Chocolat, by Northern Afleet

Age: 5

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Ice Chocolat enters the Woodbine Mile off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap that offers reason for optimism. He is, however, winless in six races this year despite posing some solid speed figures along the way and placing in a pair of graded stakes. This Goldikovic gelding has spent most of his career sprinting but ran fourth in the Grade 3 Kelso Stakes before finishing third in the Fourstardave, both times when stretching out to a mile, and owns two wins and five top-three finishes in six starts on the turf at Woodbine. He’s been double-digit odds for each of his last four starts and this is at least as difficult a challenge as any of them, so he should be an appealing price but a lot would need to go right, including a fast pace, for this deep closer to have a chance to win in deep stretch on Saturday. Trainer Mark Casse won this race in 2016 with Tepin and in 2017 with World Approval; co-owner Gary Barber raced 2006 Woodbine Mile winner Becrux in partnership with Team Valor.

Eclipse Sportswire

5. My Sea Cottage (15-1)

Jockey: Dylan Davis

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owner: Gary Barber

Career record: 14 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 6 thirds

Career earnings: $161,435

Earnings per start: $10,090

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 102

Pedigree: Shalaa – Shim Sham, by Danehill Dancer

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Pacesetter

Notable achievements and interesting facts: The probable pacesetter is one of three entrants from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who won this race in 2016 with Tepin and in 2017 with World Approval. While unplaced in two previous starts against stakes competition, My Sea Cottage enters off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap that was somewhat encouraging. He set the pace in the Grade 1, one-mile race at Saratoga but was passed with about three-sixteenths of a mile to go and faded out of the top three. He earned a career-best 102 Equibase Speed Figure for the Fourstardave, which was his first career start in a graded stakes and his first stakes appearance since the Toronto Cup in September 2021. He figures to be the longest shot in the field, but as the lone speed in the race My Sea Cottage could lead this field a long way and he would really spice up the trifecta if he could hold on for third, which seems to be the ceiling for this 5-year-old in the Woodbine Mile. Owner Gary Barber won the 2006 Woodbine Mile with Becrux, whom he raced in partnership with Team Valor.

Michael Burns/Woodbine

6. Lucky Score (15-1)

Jockey: Sahin Civaci

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owners: Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Gary Barber

Career record: 17 starts – 6 wins – 3 seconds – 4 thirds

Career earnings: $463,666

Earnings per start: $27,274

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 108

Pedigree: Lookin At Lucky – Miss Matzo, by Royal Academy

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Lucky Score has emerged this year as a 5-year-old after earning his first career stakes win in the Vigil Stakes last fall at Woodbine. The bay gelding won the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes going three-quarters of a mile on the turf at Woodbine July 1 and then followed with thirds in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup Stakes Presented by Bulleit Bourbon and Grade 2 King Edward Stakes, the latter in his first try stretching out in distance to a mile. He’s a deep closer who really has not run a bad race since his debut back in September 2020 and almost always is gobbling up ground late. He’s very likely a cut below the top contenders in this Grade 1 race, but he should at least be passing horses in the stretch with a puncher’s chance to finish in the trifecta or exacta at appealing odds for trainer Mark Casse, who won this race in 2016 with Tepin and in 2017 with World Approval. Co-owner Gary Barber raced 2006 Woodbine Mile winner Becrux in partnership with Team Valor.