Notable Speech hands Godolphin fourth Breeders’ Cup Mile

Third as the favorite in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1), Notable Speech returned to Del Mar as an older, fresher customer and burst through to prevail in Saturday’s $1.84 million renewal. The 2.60-1 choice became the fourth Mile winner in five years for Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, jockey William Buick, and sire Dubawi.

Notable Speech capitalized on an ideal rail-skimming trip. Settled in midpack as South African champion One Stripe carved out fractions of :22.59 and :46.76, Notable Speech cut the corner turning for home.

By that point, Rhetorical had headed the weakening One Stripe at the six-furlong mark in 1:10.84 and tried to open up into the stretch. But he could not hold on inside the final furlong.

Notable Speech shot clear to a 1 1/2-length victory in 1:33.66 and paid $7.20. The British homebred was following in the hoofsteps of Space Blues (2021), Modern Games (2022), and Master of the Seas (2023), who compiled a streak for their connections before Notable Speech’s third a year ago.

Formidable Man rallied for second, a head up on the stalking The Lion in Winter. Rhetorical flattened out in fourth, followed by Sahlan; Argine, the last Breeders’ Cup mount for the retiring Frankie Dettori; Gas Me Up; Johannes; Jonquil; Program Trading; Gran Oriente; Qirat; and One Stripe. 

Notable Speech’s resume now reads 14-7-1-1 with earnings in excess of $3.1 million. Hero of last year’s 2000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket, the chestnut added the Sussex (G1) over older horses. But he’d been out of luck this season, including a near-miss in the Aug. 17 Prix Jacques le Marois (G1), until outclassing the field in the Woodbine Mile (G1). 

“He broke a lot better today than at Woodbine,” Buick recapped. “I knew turning for home nothing would be going better than I was, so I rode him for luck and it opened up, so all went well. He’s got an amazing kick, and I’m just delighted he got to show how good he is. He should have won in France in the Jacques le Marois (G1), which was a tough pill to swallow.”

“Last year, he was the highest-profile horse we ever brought here,” Appleby said. “He is tailor-made for this track, and I know he’s had to learn how to run it, but the experience around Woodbine was the making of it to come into a race like today.

“Then Will’s ride around there was copybook. If you ever wrote a script on how to go around there, that was how. He got him out, got a nice pitch two or three back, and we always knew we have the cutaway here—even if he was a couple lengths off of them at the cutaway, he’s got that electric turn of foot that we’ve seen throughout his career. 

“I was confident. I know some people would have been praying for the cutaway, but I wasn’t, really, because I thought the longer that Will could sit tight and be kept tight on the rail, the better. As soon as that cutaway comes, he’s electric. 

“If anything, you would want to come late on him,” Appleby summed up, “because no one has a turn of foot like him, and he knows where the winning line is.” 

Plans call for Notable Speech to return for a 2026 campaign, culminating in a Mile title defense at Keeneland. 

Notable Speech is out of the Group 3-placed Invincible Spirit mare Swift Rose, who is herself a half-sister to Wild Beauty, the 2021 Natalma (G1) scorer, and to Desert Wisdom, a Group 3 winner on the Dubai dirt. 

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