DEL MAR, Calif. – Notable Speech fell just short of winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile as a 3-year-old in 2024. This year, Notable Speech was nothing short of brilliant.
Thanks in part to a perfect ride from William Buick, but thanks even more to his elite ability, Notable Speech rode the rail almost the entire mile trip, finishing it off with a crackling turn of foot to win the $2 million Mile by 1 1/2 lengths.
Notable Speech’s third-place finish here a year ago broke a string of three straight Mile wins for Buick, trainer Charlie Appleby, and Godolphin.
“We fully intended to come here again this year and try and correct what we didn’t get done last year,” Appleby said.
Notable Speech had an up-and-down year – mainly somewhat down – while racing in Europe, but he found his best form again when Buick let him drop back and make one run in the Prix Jacques le Marois on Aug. 17. Notable Speech encountered just enough trouble to take a narrow loss, but he was back in a groove and his win in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 12 set the table for a career-best performance Saturday.
“He filled me with confidence right from the first jump,” Buick said. “He warmed up real good and he was a little bit aggressive with me. The more I warmed him up, the more aggressive he became, but in a good way. When he won at Woodbine last time, he was a little bit sleepy, but today he had his game face on.”
Formidable Man suffered his first Del Mar turf defeat after six wins but ran a tremendous race to finish second, losing ground on both turns while the winner saved it. Racing midpack under John Velazquez, Formidable Man from post 8 never really had a chance to get covered up but loomed a hero at the three-sixteenths pole before Notable Speech roared up the rail. On Friday, Formidable Man’s trainer, Michael McCarthy, sent longshot Stark Contrast out to a troubled second-place finish in the Juvenile Turf.
“This horse has been training like he’s been running,” said McCarthy. “Yesterday, I felt like if we could have just found a little seam, and then today . . .”
Formidable Man had a head on third-place The Lion in Winter, who turned in a strong race making his North American debut for trainer Aidan O’Brien. The Lion in Winter broke alertly and took up a stalking spot along the rail, just in front of Notable Speech.
“He was very happy the whole way,” jockey Christophe Soumillon said. “On the turn, I took the option to come outside. William was behind me he stayed on the fence. It probably cost us the second place, but he ran very nice.”
Rhetorical finished fourth, a half-length behind The Lion in Winter, after stalking fractions of 22.59 and 46.76 seconds set by longshot One Stripe. Irad Ortiz, breaking from a wide draw, settled Rhetorical in fourth down the backstretch, and rather than being caught three-wide with no cover on the far turn ,let his mount out enough to pass pace-pressing Qirat and get up into second, just behind One Stripe.
Rhetorical took a lead into the homestretch but could not hold it while making just his seventh start, and his first that required a real ship. His trainer, Will Walden, said Rhetorical was “on the muscle” from the time he was led from the stables to the paddock.
Sahlan, the France-based 3-year-old, closed solidly up the rail to finish fifth, a nose behind Rhetorical, and was followed by Argine, Gas Me Up, Johannes, Jonquil, Program Trading, Gran Oriente, Qirat, and One Surprise.
Notable Speech, the favorite, paid $7.20 and clocked 1:33.66 over a firm course and was given a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
Buick said he could have placed Notable Speech closer to the lead had he wanted, so sharp was his mount Saturday. Instead, he ended up in the spot he expected, and Appleby had encouraged him to go for a rail run.
“Charlie gave me the confidence to ride the rail. He always said, with this horse, it’ll either happen or it won’t,” Buick said. “He was in a beautiful and good spot, and we did know from the quarter pole, no horse was going to get there better than us. So, look, I could see it all happen in front of me, and he had that instant kick. He’s a great horse.”
Great, but also a little late starting and still improving. Notable Speech, a homebred by Dubawi out of Swift Rose, by Invincible Spirit, didn’t debut until January of his 3-year-old season, winning the 2000 Guineas that spring, and he is not done racing yet.
Appleby said Notable Speech will return for a 2026 campaign, likely in the J.T. Lockinge Stakes at Newbury as a prep for the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot. And then, as has happened with these connections every year for the last several, attention turns to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
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