It’s been 20 years since a horse based in California won the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and when Singletary did so in 2004, his success came not in California but at Lone Star Park in Texas. When the 4-year-old colt Johannes, all being well, starts in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar, he’ll be racing much closer to home – and racing with a decent chance to become the first California-based Mile winner since Singletary. Johannes has six grass starts and five wins, and a poor trip compromised his chances in his lone defeat, the American Turf in May 2023 at Churchill Downs. After exiting that start “a little jarred up” in his front legs, according to trainer Tim Yakteen, Johannes returned to California for a good, long period of rest and healing, and a specific goal in mind: the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar. Johannes’s owners and breeders, Joe and Debby McCloskey, own a condominium basically across the street from Del Mar. Johannes is the first foal produced by the first horse the McCloskeys raced, Cuyathy, who bears the name of their racing and small breeding operation. Johannes looked like a horse who could take them to a Breeders’ Cup on their home turf. A month out, he’s nearly there. “Their dream was to compete in the Breeders’ Cup,” Yakteen said. “We had given him time to get over the way he came out of the [American Turf]. We mapped out a campaign with spacing. Many times in this industry, your plans don’t always materialize. In this scenario, things just really sort of fell into place.” :: ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save 41% off the retail price. Back racing 11 months after the American Turf, Johannes won the Grade 3 American Stakes this past April. That prep behind him, he captured his first Grade 1, the Shoemaker Mile on May 27. Two months later, the natural miler stretched to nine furlongs and comfortably won the Eddie Read at Del Mar, and Johannes ran his unbeaten streak to four on Sept. 28 with a facile score in the City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita. Yakteen harbors no illusions about the task at hand. The top of the California turf division, once a global powerhouse, has thinned considerably through the years. Johannes faces a different class of animal in November. “I feel like the mile turf is always the most competitive race on the Breeders’ Cup card. There will be a contingent we’ll be up against we haven’t seen the likes of yet,” he said. Yet Johannes might still have more to give, and the colt, by Nyquist, has a brain to match his physical gifts. He switches off beautifully for his regular jockey, Umberto Rispoli, and has displayed tactical versatility that will help Rispoli navigate a full field on a tight turf course. “He’s obviously fast, but he’s also very manageable. You can put him where you want, and that’s lethal. And he does have that explosive turn of foot when you let him loose,” Yakteen said. :: BREEDERS’ CUP MILE: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Johannes made his first start for trainer Bill Morey in Kentucky, finishing 12th as the favorite in a six-furlong dirt maiden. Five months later, his second start came for Yakteen in California. Johannes had trained like a good thing and turned in a competitive performance, finishing third in another dirt sprint. Second time out for Yakteen, however, Johannes took a step back. The horse never had set foot on a turf course, but Yakteen, seeking the same horse in the afternoon he’d seen in the morning, made a career-defining surface switch. “When you have that individual that works exceptionally well, and when you turn them loose in the afternoon and they get to swimming, sometimes it indicates the horse doesn’t want to have the ground breaking away from him,” Yakteen said. Johannes in a month will try swimming with bigger fish. He might not be out of his depth. Weekend preps The weekend brings key Mile prep races in Kentucky and overseas. Carl Spackler, the leading grass miler on the East Coast, will go favored Saturday at Keeneland in the Coolmore Turf Mile. The Prix de la Foret on Sunday at Longchamp often yields a mile runner or two, with Ramatuelle and Tribalist, expected Foret runners, under consideration for a trip to Del Mar. The England-based 3-year-old Notable Speech isn’t expected to race before the BC Mile, where he’ll get the firm turf he needs to find the form that has yielded Group 1 wins this season in the 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes. That performance level, plus the fact that Charlie Appleby trains him for Godolphin, could make Notable Speech the Mile favorite. Appleby and Godolphin have captured the last three Miles, with Master of The Seas last year at Santa Anita, with Modern Games in 2022 at Keeneland, and three years ago at Del Mar with Space Blues. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.