Exotics Plays for the 2022 Woodbine Mile

A fantastic field of 11 will travel eight panels on the green in Saturday’s C$1 million Woodbine Mile (G1). The ultra-competitive turf test attracted a pair of talented European contenders, as well as some locally based standouts, in one of the better renewals of the race in recent years.

I am going to go outside the box a bit and tab #3 Wakanaka (10-1) for a top-two finish while facing the boys. Trained by Bill Mott, the daughter of Power has been consistently good since arriving in the U.S., but she really impressed me with her first run north of the border when taking the Dance Smartly S. (G2) on the course in advance of Saturday.

Wakanaka laid closer to the pace last time out and it paid off, as she moved to the fore in early stretch and won comfortably to pick up her initial Grade 2 victory. The Irish-bred four-year-old comes in fresh off of some solid morning drills as of late, and she should receive a nice trip from near midpack early on with Manny Franco coming in for the voyage.

Group 1 dynamo #5 Modern Games (7-5) is the one to beat for the brilliant Charlie Appleby. The sophomore son of Dubawi, who crossed the wire first in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) last fall, was a very good second to the otherworldly Baaeed in the Sussex S. (G1) most recently, and a repeat of that performance will make the colt especially tough to upend in this tilt. William Buick coming in to ride is a very good sign, obviously.

#2 Ivar (4-1) has gone close in the past two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) and is surely among the top domestic turf milers for Paulo Lobo. The Grade 1-winning son of Agnes Gold earned a lifetime-best 105 Brisnet Speed number in his latest endeavor, and I expect him to thrive over the long stretch while making his local debut, as well. The six-year-old will have regular jockey Joe Talamo in the stirrups.

Woodbine Mile Exotics Wagers

• $8 exacta key box: 3 with 2,5 ($32)
• 60-cent trifecta: 2,3 with 2,3,5 with all ($21.60)
• 20-cent superfecta: 2,3 with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 with all ($6.40)