The Woodbine Mile is a

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

stakes race on

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

for

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorses Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

three years old and up held annually in mid September at

Woodbine Racetrack Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. Currently sponsored by

Ricoh is a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company. It was founded by the now-defunct commercial division of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) known as the ''Riken Concern'', on 6 February 1936 as . Ricoh's hea ...

, the Woodbine Mile offers a purse of

Can$ The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...

1,000,000. Part of the

Breeders' Cup Challenge The Breeders' Cup Challenge is a series of Thoroughbred horse races in which the winner earns an automatic spot in a specified Breeders' Cup race. The challenge races change somewhat each year. The Challenge series began in 2007 with 24 "Win and Yo ...

series, the winner of the Woodbine Mile automatically qualifies for the

Breeders' Cup Mile The Breeders' Cup Mile is a conditions races, Grade 1 Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up, run on a sod, grass course. It has been conducted annually as part of the Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup World C ...

. The inaugural race in 1988 was sponsored by

Molson Breweries The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

with a purse of $750,000 and run as the Molson Export Challenge, reflecting the name of the company's flagship

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

. It was changed to the Molson Export Million when the purse was increased to $1million. In 1999, under new sponsorship it was renamed and raced as the Atto Mile until 2006. Since inception, the race has been run at three different distances: * 1 mile on turf: 1997–present * miles on dirt: 1991–1996 * miles on dirt: 1988–1990 Originally restricted to three-year-olds on the dirt, with the modification to one mile on turf in 1997 the race was also made open to older horses. As a result of the change from dirt to turf, the race was ungraded in 1997 and 1998.

Historical notes

In 2005, the Brazilian horse,

Leroidesanimaux Leroidesanimaux (September 27, 2000 – May 27, 2016) was a Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who competed in Brazil and was an Eclipse Award winner in the United States. Background His name was four French-language words combined. ''Le roi d ...

, set the record for the largest margin of victory at seven and three-quarter lengths while carrying the highest weight of any winner in the race's history at 124 pounds. In 2009, Ventura became the first female to win this race in 13 years. In the process, she also set the record time of 1:32.04. Wise Dan broke this record in 2013 while becoming the first two-time winner of the race.

Records

Time record: * 1:31.75 –

Wise Dan Wise Dan (foaled February 20, 2007) is a champion American Hall of Fame and Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. He is the first horse to win the same three Eclipse Awards in consecutive years, having been named American Horse of the ...

(2013) (at current distance) Most wins * 2 –

(2012, 2013) Most wins by an owner: * 4 –

Sam-Son Farm Sam-Son Farm is a Thoroughbred horse racing stable with farms located in Milton, Ontario (Canada) and Ocala, Florida (U.S.). Established in the 1960s by Ernest L. "Ernie" Samuel, it began as a home for competition hunter/jumper horses. One Sam ...

(1991, 1999, 2004, 2019) Most wins by a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

: * 5 – John R. Velazquez (2000, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2017) Most wins by a trainer: * 4 – Neil D. Drysdale (1989, 1998, 2003, 2006)

Winners

† – Hawksley Hill won the 1999 race but was disqualified to 4th

References

The 2009 Woodbine Mile at the NTRA
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201112813/http://ntra.com/content.aspx?id=41876&type=news , date=2010-02-01
Woodbine Mile History at Woodbine Entertainment
Open mile category horse races Turf races in Canada Grade 1 stakes races in Canada Breeders' Cup Challenge series Woodbine Racetrack Horse races established in 1988 Molson Coors Beverage Company 1988 establishments in Ontario

Historical notes

Records

Winners

See also

References