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Weekend Lineup: Trio Of Breeders’ Cup Berths On The Line At Woodbine

The upcoming week is highlighted by three Breeders' Cup Challenge Series “Win and You're In” races, all of them at Woodbine. On Saturday, the $1 million Woodbine Mile is a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Mile while Sunday features the Grade 1 Summer Stakes and the Natalma Stakes, which are qualifying preps for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, respectively.

All three races at Woodbine will be broadcast live on NBCSN as part of their Challenge Series “Win and You're In” TV schedule.

TVG will also partner with NBC Sports this weekend to bring live horse racing into homes throughout the country with coverage scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. “Trackside Live” will be simulcast from 5-6 p.m. ET on Saturday and from 4 -6 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Racing from Churchill Downs and Belmont Park will be showcased on “America's Day at the Races”, the NYRA-produced program which airs on either FS1 or FS2.

Saturday September 19

3:04 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park on FS1

Lael Stables' Magic Attitude, a Group 3 winner in France, will make her North American debut in the 10-furlong Belmont Oaks Invitational. By Galileo and out of the Group 1-winner Margot Did, Magic Attitude was bred in Great Britain by Katsumi Yoshida and is a full-sister to 2018 Group 2 Prix de Sandringham winner Mission Impassible, who is also multiple Grade/Group 1-placed. Magic Attitude presents an impressive ledger that includes a victory in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux in May when racing off a nearly eight-month layoff for former conditioner Fabrice Chappet.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL091920USA5-EQB.html

4:27 p.m.—$125,000 Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

Trainer Graham Motion has a two-pronged entry for the 1 ¼-miles Singspiel in stakes winner Standard Deviation and Nakamura. Standard Deviation traveled to Doha earlier this year where he ran second in the H.H. The Amir Trophy, but the son of Curlin has been off the board in his last two starts including a seventh-place run in the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes. Nakamura has finished third in his last two outings with his latest effort coming in an allowance optional claiming race on August 16.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO091920CAN7-EQB.html

5:39 p.m.—$1,000,000 Grade 1 Woodbine Mile at Woodbine on TVG and NBCSN

Starship Jubilee, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year, will take on seven rivals, including 2-1 morning line favorite War of Will and undefeated 3-year-old Shirl's Speight, in Saturday's 24th running of the Woodbine Mile. Starship Jubilee will make her 38th career start in the fall turf classic for owner Blue Heaven Farm and trainer Kevin Attard. The bay mare won her first four starts this year before finishing fourth in her most recent engagement, the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on August 23. Last year, War of Will took the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes and Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds before his Preakness Stakes victory in mid-May. The son of War Front heads into Saturday's engagement off a nose win in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile over the Keeneland turf on July 10.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO091920CAN9-EQB.html

Sunday September 20

4:29 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine on TVG and NBCSN

Seven first-year stars take their talents to the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in Sunday's Summer Stakes. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will send out a pair of hopefuls in Dolder Grand and Gretzky the Great. After a runner-up effort in his first career start on July 12, Gretzky the Great could net a natural hat trick of his own with a win on Saturday. He broke his maiden via a 4 ¼-length victory on August 2 and followed it up with a gutsy neck score in the Soaring Free Stakes, traveling 6 ½ panels on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course on August 23.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO092020CAN7-EQB.html

4:41 p.m.—$150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile Stakes at Monmouth Park on TVG

A year after the Maryland-based trainer shipped in with Divisidero to win the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes, Kelly Rubley will look for history to repeat when she sends out Laurel track record holder Top Line Growth in Sunday's Salvator Mile, the feature on Monmouth Park's 14-race card that day. After making his 4-year-old debut in impressive fashion with a 5½-length romp at Laurel on Aug. 14 – a race in which he threatened his own track record for a mile – Top Line Growth will face seven challengers in the Salvator Mile his quest for his first graded stakes score.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/MTH092020USA10-EQB.html

5:35 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on TVG and NBCSN

Trainer Roger Attfield and owner/breeder Charles Fipke will be hoping to land a Grade 1 prize with Lady Speightspeare, who will be making just her second lifetime start but looms as the horse to beat in the $250,000 Natalma Stakes, a one-mile turf race which attracted seven two-year-old fillies. Attfield was not surprised when Lady Speightspeare was in the spotlight in her debut, scoring by 3 ¾ lengths over seven furlongs on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course. Last Sunday, Lady Speightspeare turned heads with a five-furlong breeze in :58.60 on the training track turf course.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO092020CAN9-EQB.html

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‘Very Fast Horse’: Track Record Holder Top Line Growth Headlines Sunday’s Salvator Mile

Different year, different horse, different Monmouth Park graded stakes race. But, trainer Kelly Rubley hopes, a similar result.

A year after the Maryland-based trainer shipped in with Divisidero to win the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes, Rubley will look for history to repeat when she sends out Laurel track record holder Top Line Growth in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile, the feature on Monmouth Park's 14-race card that day.

“Certainly that's the hope,” she said.

After making his 4-year-old debut in impressive fashion with a 5½-length romp at Laurel on Aug. 14 – a race in which he threatened his own track record for a mile – Top Line Growth will face seven challengers in the Salvator Mile his quest for his first graded stakes score.

The gelded son of Tapizar returned following a 10½-month layoff to sizzle a mile in 1:34.74 to launch his 2020 campaign. He set the Laurel track record for that distance on June 8, 2019 when he covered the distance in 1:34.07.

“It was very impressive,” Rubley said of Top Line Growth's comeback race. “He toyed with the track record he currently holds. He's a very fast horse.

“We have always felt he was a nice horse. We felt he deserved to try this race. His last race he had the conditions so we figured why not try it. It was a great start back. You hope you're not over-facing them when they're coming off a long layoff. Obviously, he was ready in that spot.”

Top Line Growth has consistently displayed two traits during his career: He likes to win and he loves eight furlongs. Owned and bred by The Elkstone Group LLC, Top Line Growth is 5-for-8 lifetime and 3-for-3 at a mile. Two of his career losses have come in Grade 3 stakes races: A third-place finish in the Smarty Jones at Parx last Sept. 2 and a fourth-place finish in the West Virginia Derby on Aug. 3 of last year.

“The race at Parx was one of his better ones numbers-wise,” said Rubley. “It was a bit of an off-track and I thought he did very well.

“We always thought he was a nice horse. He was a big, growing horse at 2, so he didn't start until he was 3. Luckily the owners were wonderful in giving me the time to develop him. He certainly showed up his first start.”

That was April 22 of last year, when Top Line Growth made his racing debut with a 9½-length victory.

Among the horses Top Line Growth will face in the Salvator Mile is Pirate's Punch, who was disqualified from first in his last start on Aug. 22 in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park. Trainer Chad Brown will send out Grade 1 winner Valid Point, with the colt trying dirt for the first time in his career.

Rubley, whose only two career graded stakes wins have come with Divisidero, has enlisted Joe Bravo to ride Top Line Growth.

“Joe rode him at Parx so he knows him,” said Rubley, who started training in 2014. “I felt that was a logical move.”

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Mountaineer Adds 12 Dates; Charles Town Drops 10

Mountaineer Park will be adding 12 dates to its current race meet while Charles Town will drop 10 programs. Both moves were approved Sept. 17 via telephonic meeting of the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC).

“The action that causes this was the cancellation of the West Virginia Derby card,” WVRC executive director Joe Moore explained to commissioners prior to the 3-0 approval vote for the Mountaineer increase, which will tack on the dozen programs between Dec. 6 and 23.

“Now the $500,000 approved for the West Virginia Derby cannot be used for any other race other than that race as described by statute,” Moore said. “But the remainder of races that were also cancelled on that card is what’s funding these additional 12 days of live racing at Mountaineer Park.”

On the Charles Town 10-date cut, Moore cited “declining gaming revenue both on the lottery side and the racing side that funds the purse funds.” He added that the Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association submitted a letter supporting the reduction.

Erich Zimny, Charles Town’s vice president of racing operations, told the WVRC that depending on the level of the purse account, it is possible that his track would later ask for those dates to be added back in before 2020 comes to a close.

“It’s possible,” Zimny said, citing the relatively tight horse population as one of several other contributing factors. “Everything’s on the table depending on how much money’s in there, as you guys know. If it’s in there, we’ll pay it out.”

Chairman Ken Lowe and commissioner J.B. Akers voted in favor of the dates reduction. Commissioner Tony Figaretti cast the lone dissenting vote in the 2-1 decision.

“I’m against this, because every time we turn around, between Charles Town and Mountaineer, it’s cut into us,” Figaretti said. “They keep losing dates and losing dates. We can’t make any money off cutting dates. So I’m 100% against that.”

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‘Weekend Warrior’ Andy Muhlada Tops Inaugural Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge

Andy Muhlada calls himself a “weekend warrior” when it comes to horse-racing handicapping tournaments, working in contest play around his full-time job in Cincinnati. But the 53-year-old from Lawrenceburg, Ind., proved a weekday wonder when it came to the inaugural Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge presented by Daily Racing Form this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 53-year-old Muhlada, a self-employed manufacturers' rep working with architects in high-end construction, earned the track's title of National Turf Handicapping Champion with a final combined bankroll of $9,211 for the two, separate live-money tournaments. That included the $7,354 Muhlada finished with to top Wednesday's competition.

Muhlada's two-day score comfortably beat out runner-up Robert Swickard, a retired firefighter from Commerce Township, Mich., who accrued $7,965.60, including winning Tuesday's tournament.

“I'm the classic weekend warrior type of guy on these contests,” said Muhlada, whose victory was made possible by hitting big exactas on the final two races of the RUNHAPPY Meet at Kentucky Downs. “… It's bizarre how it just flowed and worked perfect. There were eight reasons I could have been derailed. Sometimes it's just your day.”

As the overall winner, Muhlada earned $15,000, a seat in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) worth $10,000 and all the fame that comes with being anointed National Turf Handicapping Champ. In addition, he won $7,312 in prize money and a prize package to the 2021 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) in Las Vegas as the winner of Wednesday's tournament. And, of course, he kept his Wednesday bankroll, plus the $1,857 he made Tuesday.

Muhlada called the victory a “mental breakthrough.” He now has qualified for the NHC four times and will be in his first BCBC.

“I'm always in these tournaments, and I'm always top 10, top 20 percent. I hold my own, do pretty well,” he said. “But I'd never won a major contest. I've come in third and gone to Vegas. Come in second and won money, but never like, 'I'm it. I'm the winner.' I stamped myself that I belong with these guys. That's how I feel now.”

There were Hall of Fame horseplayers, past NHC and NHC Tour winners among the 182 entries in Tuesday's tournament and 173 Wednesday. The tournament, overseen by Monmouth Park's Brian Skirka, was conducted online through TVG and Xpressbet.

Starting with a $500 bankroll Tuesday (from entrants' $1,000 buy-in) and a $300 bankroll Wednesday (from the $600 buy-in), participants had to wager $50 or more on at least 10 races from Kentucky Downs on Tuesday and on at least six races Wednesday. Contestants could bet win, place, show and exactas.

But at first it didn't look like Muhlada was even going to be able to play.

He had a conflict and couldn't play last Sunday when the first of the two tournaments was supposed to take place. He also was committed to a heavy work schedule on Wednesday afternoon. Players had to compete both days to win the overall prize.

“I thought, 'OK, I'm just going to miss it. No big deal,'” Muhlada said. “When it rained out the Sunday and went to Tuesday, Tuesday was perfect. I literally signed up just for Tuesday, and if I did well enough I was going to decide what to do on Wednesday. I called Brian and he was awesome. He got me in literally an hour and a half before the tournament started on Tuesday and I did well enough that I played on Wednesday.

“But I was in a Zoom meeting from like 2 until 5, with the races on a side screen. Then it left me with a lot of work left to do. I got off the Zoom call with four races left. I didn't really like the race coming up, the seventh race. I didn't have any strong feelings. So I just took a walk to clear my head. I kind of put the plan together as to what I had to do in the eighth, the ninth and the 10th races to get to a money goal I needed to get to.”

Muhlada said he blew in the eighth race and was down to his last $100 with two races left Tuesday. His ninth-race bets included a $10 box on the 8-5 exacta in the Franklin-Simpson Stakes won by 9-1 Guildsman by a neck over 21-1 shot Island Commish.

“There were five horses in the ninth race I identified as live long shots,” he said. “I settled in aggressively on the 5, Island Commish. If he wins, I do even better because I had money to win on him. I started to get less comfortable with the horse as his odds kept going up. But I said, 'I can't just give up on it. I think he's sitting on a good race.' The 8 was the horse I liked the best. I settled in on the 5 and built tickets around him. All that did was give me enough money to have a shot at the last race to win it.”

The 8-5 exacta paid $364 for $2, propelling Muhlada into fourth. (Had the fast-flying 47-1 shot Souper Dormy, another neck back in third, won or split his exacta, we wouldn't be telling this story.)

Muhlada had a $60 exacta box on No. 4 Chop Chop Charlie (an 8-1 shot) and No. 3 Zanesville (7-1) in the meet's final race and also used some combinations with favored Peekacho. “Then at the end, just for security, I put another $100 to win on the 3,” he said. “If the 3 wins but my favorite horse of the day, the 4, isn't there, I cash but we're not talking. Them running 1-2 was the difference.”

The $2 exacta paid $169.80 and Zanesville paid $17 to win.

“The last two races I had live shots that I liked,” Muhlada said. “The ironic thing was they both ran second and I paired them with the right horse to exacta-box my way to a nice day…. I just got lucky playing the whole thing because it fell into my lap when Sunday got canceled.”

Muhlada said he went to the races at Kentucky Downs for the first time last year with his horse-racing buddies.

“It was like 'Wow! How come we haven't been here before?'” he said, saying COVID wrecked plans for a return this year. “Fell in love with it. The course, everything about it was dynamite.”

Muhlada does not consider turf handicapping one of his strengths. But he really likes live-money tournaments because they require not only picking winners but money management. Not surprisingly, he said he loved the format of the Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge.

“I enjoy the mental aspect, the mental chess game of trying to figure it out,” he said. “You don't have to be perfect; you just got to be better than the rest of the people.”

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