A New York-bred won the first American Grade 1 turf race of 2025, and a New York-bred won the most recent American Grade 1 turf race. When it comes to the Breeders’ Cup Mile, a late-season surge is the way to go.
When New York-bred Spirit of St Louis won the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf in January, New York-bred Rhetorical was several months away from his 2025 debut. Spirit of St Louis after winning the Grade 1 Turf Classic in May steadily lost his edge and now won’t race again until 2026.
Rhetorical has gone the other direction. After winning allowance races in May and July, and the New York-bred West Point Stakes in August, Rhetorical faced open stakes competition for the first time in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile on Oct. 4 at Keeneland and won that, too.
“He’s a nice horse. He loves to win,” said jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who has ridden Rhetorical in all but one of his five starts, including the Turf Mile, and figures to have the mount when Rhetorical gives 35-year-old trainer Will Walden his first Breeders’ Cup runner.
Rhetorical went off at 9-1 in the Turf Mile, Walden’s first Grade 1 win, but Walden for weeks had strongly believed the gelding could win. Pointing to a friend standing next to him in the Keeneland winner’s circle after the Turf Mile, Walden said, “My guy over here to the right, I told him to come today a month ago.”
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Purchased as a yearling for $320,000, Rhetorical posted a series of workouts during the spring and summer of 2023 for trainer Todd Pletcher, and then, after a spell at WinStar Farm, started working again in the fall. The racetrack workouts ceased again, Rhetorical went back to WinStar, and when he made it back to the track a third time, it was under Walden’s care. Walden said he has never had any significant issues with Rhetorical, and even during his gap in racing earlier this year, Rhetorical stuck to a steady work pattern.
Rhetorical has the speed to keep up with any pace, but the key to him, Ortiz said, is the ability to relax and wait for Ortiz’s cue. That should serve him well at Del Mar.
Rhetorical is one of at least three horses who raced in the Turf Mile whose connections have designs on the BC Mile. While trainer Chad Brown didn’t commit runner-up Program Trading to the race, it’s a logical spot for a fresh horse with only two starts this season. Third-place Brilliant Berti won’t race again this year, but fourth-place Jonquil, who ran well from a poor post position, is expected to go on to the Mile.
Fifth-place Diego Velazquez, trained by Aidan O’Brien, came to America on a two-race mission, the Turf Mile and the BC Mile, but ran somewhat flat as the favorite at Keeneland. Even if Diego Velazquez goes to Del Mar, O’Brien could have an additional Mile contender, perhaps a horse like Henri Matisse.
◗ Earlier Saturday at Keeneland, trainer Eddie Kenneally floated the Mile as a possible spot for the 4-year-old filly Simply in Front after she upset the Grade 1 First Lady, a sex-restricted race. Simply in Front earned a modest 91 Beyer Speed Figure for that performance.
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◗ Field of Gold remains the possible Mile favorite, though his Breeders’ Cup status won’t be known until after he runs in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Oct. 18. Three-year-old Field of Gold came out of a surprise defeat in the Sussex Stakes on July 30 with a relatively minor injury. He resides in a different yard, but, like Jonquil, is an England-based Juddmonte homebred.
◗ The Prix de la Foret on the Arc undercard Oct. 5 is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, but the sharp winner, Maranoa Charlie, isn’t expected to race again this year.
◗ Formidable Man, 6 for 6 at Del Mar and a leading California-based Mile hope, has remained on a steady workout pattern. While Formidable Man shows no published breezes since Sept. 26, his workout on Oct. 3 went unrecorded, trainer Michael McCarthy said.
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