Godolphin’s Notable Speech (GB), winner of last fall’s FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) Presented by PDJF and the year’s champion turf male, headlines a field of 12 plus one also-eligible entered Friday for the 38th running of the $650,000 Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) for 4-year-olds and up.

The Maker’s Mark Mile will go as the ninth race Friday, April 10 with a 5:16 p.m. post time. First post is 1 p.m.

Trained by Charlie Appleby, Notable Speech will be making his first start since his Breeders’ Cup triumph at Del Mar. A four-time Grade or Group 1 winner, Notable Speech will be ridden by William Buick from post 4.

Appleby will have a second starter for Godolphin in the race in Aomori City (FR). A Group 2 winner in England, Aomori City will be ridden by Richard Mullen from post 5.

Also making his 2026 debut is Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) winner Rhetorical for trainer Will Walden.

Owned by the partnership of Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable, Rhetorical finished fourth as the second choice behind Notable Speech in the Breeders’ Cup. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount from post 1. 

Rhetorical worked a half-mile on a fast main track Friday morning in :48.40.

Three other Grade 1 winners are in the field: Donamire Farm’s Troubleshooting (Ainsworth Franklin-Simpson); Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso’s Zulu Kingdom (IRE) (American Turf Presented by Ford); and St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable’s Deterministic (FanDuel Fourstardave and Resorts World Casino Manhattan).

Field for the $650,000 Maker’s Mark Mile (G1)
4-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf), Race 9, 5:16 p.m.

Post	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Weight
1	Rhetorical	Will Walden	Irad Ortiz Jr.	123 lbs.
2	One Stripe (SAF)	Graham Motion	John Velazquez	123
3	Troubleshooting	Greg Foley	Tyler Gaffalione	123
4	Notable Speech (GB)	Charlie Appleby	William Buick	123
5	Aomori City (FR)	Charlie Appleby	Richard Mullen	123
6	Zulu Kingdom (IRE)	Chad Brown	Flavien Prat	123
7	Tenacious Leader	Todd Pletcher	Luis Saez	123
8	Bear River	Keith Desormeaux	James Graham	123
9	Wolfie’s Dynaghost	Brian Lynch	Jose Ortiz	123
10	Deterministic	Miguel Clement	Kendrick Carmouche	123
11	Tiz Dashing	Barclay Tagg	Javier Castellano	123
12	Brilliant Berti	Cherie DeVaux	Brian Hernandez Jr.	123
13/AE	Pitkin	Ian Wilkes	Edgar Zayas	123