The notion that Notable Speech will win the Breeders’ Cup Mile next month at Del Mar finds traction in the fact his trainer never has run a horse in the race who lost. Charlie Appleby, private and lead trainer for Godolphin, sent out his first Mile runner in 2021, when Space Blues won at Del Mar. At Keeneland in 2022, Modern Games ruled a three-quarter-length Mile winner. And last year at Santa Anita, Master of The Seas remarkably rallied from 11th at the stretch call to first at the wire, winning the 2023 Mile. When Master of The Seas got up by a nose at Santa Anita, he added to Appleby’s stupefying record at the Breeders’ Cup, where he first started a horse in 2013, Outstrip, winner of that year’s Juvenile Turf. Appleby now has 10 winners from 20 starters at an event where it has taken Bob Baffert 146 starters and Aidan O’Brien 177 to amass their 18 Breeders’ Cup winners, most among trainers. No wonder Notable Speech qualifies as a serious player. :: BREEDERS’ CUP MILE: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Master of The Seas cannonballed five rivals in the Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland, went to New York still the leading hope for this year’s BC Mile, and fell off the map. There are no timed workouts for him since July 19, yet no worries on the BC Mile front for Godolphin and Appleby. Notable Speech, after a “racecourse gallop” last weekend at Newmarket, got the green light to proceed to California and is the likely favorite to give Appleby, Godolphin. and jockey William Buick their fourth straight Mile. What Europeans call a racecourse gallop is what Americans call a workout. The Europeans rarely train at a racecourse, and a “gallop” for them is a breeze for us. In any case, Notable Speech worked over a soft course not to his liking. Such conditions, in fact, were said to be responsible for his disappointing fifth-place finish in his most recent start, the Prix du Moulin on Sept. 8. Space Blues won the Mile at age 5, Master of The Seas was 4, and Modern Games, won it as a 3-year-old, the same age as Notable Speech. Still, Notable Speech looks different than his predecessors. Modern Games had come to America a year before and captured the BC Juvenile Turf. At age 3, he made his first three starts in France, winning the 2000 Guineas there, before returning to North America a romping winner of the Woodbine Mile with a 112 Beyer Speed Figure. Modern Games even got in a run on Champions Day in England, finishing second in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes three weeks before the Breeders’ Cup. :: ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save 41% off the retail price. Space Blues began his 2021 season in Saudi Arabia and came to Del Mar after winning the Prix de la Foret a month earlier in France. Master of The Seas had won the Woodbine Mile and suffered a narrow defeat in the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland before his Mile victory a year ago. Notable Speech began his career in January racing on the winter all-weather circuit in England, winning three Kempton Park starts before making his turf debut in the English 2000 Guineas, which he won at 16-1. Notable Speech checked in a dull seventh in the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, rebounded to win a modest renewal of the Sussex at Goodwood, then floundered in the Moulin. The résumé looks good for the Mile. The horse’s trainer has been nothing short of great. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.