Win for the Money certainly was due to have something good happen in a million-dollar race after his last start, and that turned out to be an upset win Sept. 14 in the CA$1 million Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T).
Win for the Money, a 5-year-old Mohaymen gelding, was last seen finishing second at Ellis Park in Kentucky in the Kentucky Downs Preview Mint Millions Turf Mile Stakes. But, rather than send him to the Kentucky-Tennessee border to chase that seven-figure purse, trainer Mark Casse sent the Live Oak Plantation runner north of the Canadian border.
The horse handled the rest.
Relaxed out of the gate, Win for the Money and jockey Patrick Husbands took station on the rail, right behind odds-on favorite Naval Power and jockey William Buick. They raced that way until the top of the stretch when a hole opened on the inside big enough that either or both could have gone through.
While Naval Power stalled out, Win for the Money took the opportunity, shot through and ran on to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Filo Di Arianna, the early leader, held on for second with Big Rock third and Naval Power fourth. Win for the Money finished the one mile on firm going in 1:32.11.
"I had a perfect trip," Husbands said. "I didn't want to put him in the race. I read in the Racing Form that coming from off the pace was my best chance so when he broke so relaxed, I was happy to see that target, Buick, and I was happy to follow him the whole way and I got the pot."
Casse assistant Kathryn Sullivan said the upset was not a total surprise to Win for the Money's connections and she thought the gelding had a legitimate chance in the race.
"Yes. I did think he might surprise some people," Sullivan said. "He's really been training well. And Live Oak on the turf—they have such a great history with turf horses and he'd been doing really well, so we were pretty confident."
The race was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series event for the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) Nov. 2 at Del Mar and Sullivan did not dismiss the possibility that Win for the Money, fresh from his first-ever graded stakes win, might take on that bigger challenge.
"I would think so. (Live Oak owner Charlotte Weber) and Mark will discuss it and figure out the best place for him but it's a possibility, I would think."
The victory was the second big score on the program for Live Oak and the Casse barn. And One More Time, another double-digit long shot, won the CA$500,000 Natalma Stakes (G1T) for 2-year-old fillies.
Live Oak acquired Win for the Money at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for $350,000. He has had success on both turf and all-weather tracks and finished a solid fourth in the Wise Dan Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs before the Ellis Park effort.
Bred in Kentucky by Ken and Sarah Ramsey out of the War Chant mare Mayakoba, Win for the Money is the first grade 1 winner for sire Mohaymen. The son of Tapit stood the 2024 season at stud for $5,000 at Saintsbury Farm in Ontario.
The disappointment in the Woodbine Mile was Godolphin's Naval Power. Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick all combined to win the race in 2022 with Modern Games and again in 2003 with Master of The Seas. Both of those horses went on to win the Breeders' Cup Mile two starts later.
Naval Power finished second in each of his two previous United States starts, the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland, coincidentally behind Master of The Seas, and the Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs, in which he missed by just a head to Program Trading. He had been idle since that May 4 race.
