Master of The Seas is nowhere near the best miler in Europe but may be favored to beat the best male turf horse in America, Up to the Mark, on Saturday. Those two and seven others, among them 2022 race winner Annapolis, square off in the featured Grade 1, $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland. Master of The Seas carries James Doyle and the Godolphin blue silks that have won the last two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, with Modern Games in 2022 and Space Blues in 2021. Master of The Seas could follow in their hoofprints and would punch his ticket to the BC Mile at Santa Anita with a strong Saturday showing. The Coolmore Turf Mile is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series; the winner earns automatic fees-paid entry into the Mile and travel expenses to California. Master of The Seas earned a fees-paid berth with his victory in last month’s Woodbine Mile. Space Blues and Modern Games were better horses than Master of The Seas – though Master of The Seas could be closing the gap at age 5. A homebred by Dubawi, Master of The Seas was a high-level 2-year-old in 2020, and in May 2021 missed winning the 2000 Guineas in England by a nose. That’s serious form, but Master of The Seas failed to progress later in 2021 and missed nearly all of 2022. Back from a layoff this past January in Dubai, Master of The Seas won the Zabeel Mile racing in a hood with ear covers that he hadn’t worn in previous races. After a promising start to the winter, his Dubai campaign ended with a 13th-place finish in the $5 million Dubai Turf. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks and more. Master of The Seas was back racing in July, and his dominant four-length win in the Group 2 Summer Mile earned the horse a career-best Timeform rating of 125. He followed that with a 104 Beyer Speed Figure beating Shirl’s Speight, the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Mile runner-up, by nearly four lengths in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 16. Master of The Seas can be difficult to settle early in his races, but while he ran with his mouth open down the Woodbine backstretch, he switched off sufficiently to get his last quarter-mile in 22.65 seconds. With William Buick riding at Aqueduct on Saturday for Charlie Appleby, the trainer of Master of The Seas, Doyle has the mount and breaks from post 1. Appleby hasn’t been quite the unstoppable force this year in America as in recent seasons. After going 27-11-6-3 in American graded stakes during 2021-22, Appleby is a merely respectable 13-3-2-3. Up to the Mark can beat Master of The Seas. He’s the only male two-time Grade 1 grass winner in North America during 2023, and while those wins came over nine furlongs in the Turf Classic on Derby Day at Churchill Downs and at 10 furlongs on Belmont Day in June, Up to the Mark has sufficient acceleration for one mile. “I think he’s got a pretty electric turn of foot,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. His career stuck in idle on dirt, Up to the Mark switched to grass over the winter in Florida and immediately showed more gears. His finishing times on grass are exceptional, with Up to the Mark routinely getting his final quarter-mile in 22 seconds and change. Yet Up to the Mark feels like a forgotten horse. He hasn’t started since the Manhattan, “a hiccup,” as Pletcher described it, forcing him to miss some training and an intended start in the Arlington Million. Had Up to the Mark made that race, he might have been on a path toward the Breeders’ Cup Turf over 1 1/2 miles. While the Turf hasn’t been ruled out, Up to the Mark might be adaptable enough for the BC Mile. Up to the Mark’s lone loss from five turf starts came at Keeneland in April, when he was third in the Maker’s Mark Mile, won in a romp by Chez Pierre. Even in defeat, Up to the Mark turned in the race’s fastest final quarter-mile, 21.85, while finishing a neck behind heavily favored Modern Games. “I don’t think the spring race at Keeneland was a true indication of what he can do,” Pletcher said. :: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets. Pletcher said jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. focused too much on what Modern Games was doing in the Maker’s Mark rather than just riding his race. Ortiz is riding Saturday in New York, and his brother, Jose Ortiz, picks up a plum mount. Annapolis is drawn wide in post 9 and has yet to run back to his perfect-trip win in the 2022 Coolmore Turf Mile. He had late trouble finishing sixth last month in the Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 2, and Pletcher believes Annapolis can return to top form. Set Piece won the 1 1/4-mile Arlington Million by two lengths. Fourth in this race a year ago, he’s a one-run closer who needs luck and a fast pace. “He’s been in this position before,” trainer Brad Cox said. “We’ll see if he can break through in a Grade 1 at a mile.” Three-year-old Indestructible, owned by Amo Racing, makes his North American debut. Third in the Grade 3 Craven this spring, he lacks Grade 1 credentials. He has some speed and could be close to the likely leaders, Stitched and Atone. Longshots English Bee and Harlan Estate complete the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.