The Morning Line by MyWinners: King's Plate. Clement Turf. Dan Patch Night.
The weekly email newsletter from MyWinners - 08/14/2026
Hi there,
Last week I told you Sovereignty to win, keyed over Magnitude and Nitrogen in exactas. The $1 exacta box of Sovereignty, Magnitude, and Nitrogen for $6. Sovereignty won. Nitrogen ran second. The box cashed. If you played it, you're welcome. If you didn't, I'm not going to rub it in. Much. I've spent the entire summer sat in my (un)lucky boxers, spilling coffee on racing forms and arguing with myself about my own handicapping, so when one actually hits, I'm going to enjoy it for at least a full week before I go back to being wrong.
This weekend, there's more where that came from. A filly named Luster is the even money favorite in the $1 million King's Plate at Woodbine tomorrow. She won the Woodbine Oaks by 5 1/2 lengths and hasn't lost since April. John Velazquez and Josie Carroll, together, at even money. That's not a horse. That's a coronation with a starting gate.
At Saratoga, three European shippers are crossing the Atlantic for the Christophe Clement Turf, a brand new G1 named for one of the sport's finest turf trainers, who passed away earlier this year. And tonight at Hoosier Park, ten millionaires line up for the Dan Patch. Want to know how excited I am? This excited.
Grab a coffee. Grab your lucky boxers. Here's your card.
→ WHAT'S ON THIS WEEK
Today (Fri Aug 14) 🏇 🇺🇸 Hoosier Park · Dan Patch Stakes (G1, $300K) · 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Smart and Fancy Stakes ($200K)
Tomorrow (Sat Aug 15) 🏇 🇨🇦 Woodbine · King's Plate (C$1M) + 5 stakes 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Christophe Clement Turf (G1, $750K) · Galway Stakes ($200K) 🇺🇸 Northfield Park · Carl Milstein Memorial ($300K) 6pm ET 🇺🇸 Monmouth Park · Philip H. Iselin (G3, $150K)
Sunday (Aug 16) 🏇 🇺🇸 Emerald Downs · Longacres Mile ($125K) · Championship Sunday · 6 stakes 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Mahony Stakes (G3, $225K) 🇺🇸 🌴 Del Mar · Rancho Bernardo (G3, $100K)
Wed (Aug 19) 🏇 🇬🇧 York · Ebor Festival Day 1 · World Pool 🤑
Thu (Aug 20) 🏇 🇬🇧 York · Day 2 · World Pool 🤑
🏈 Thu-Sat NFL Preseason Week 1 · All 32 teams · Tonight: Bucs at Jets 7pm ET (NFL Network)
→ 🏇 CHRISTOPHE CLEMENT TURF: THE SPA'S NEWEST G1 CARRIES A NAME WORTH KNOWING
The Sword Dancer has a new name this year, and it's the right one.
Christophe Clement won this race five times. Five. He was one of the finest turf trainers to ever work out of Saratoga, and when he passed away last year, NYRA renamed the race in his honor. Saturday's $750,000 Christophe Clement Turf is the first running under the new banner, and the field of seven is built for a proper tribute.
Here's where it gets interesting for anyone who likes rooting for the home team. Three European shippers are making the trip. Ancient Egypt, Fort George and Survie all cross the Atlantic for a crack at a mile and a half on Saratoga's inner turf. Clement himself was French-born, so there's a certain poetry in Europeans invading a race that now carries his name. European runners at Saratoga aren't a novelty anymore. They've been winning these transatlantic turf raids with uncomfortable regularity, and this race, with its distance and inner turf course, plays right into their hands. If you're the type who takes it personally when a horse from Newmarket beats one from Kentucky, Saturday might test your blood pressure.
Then there's the storyline nobody can ignore. Tawny Port is trained by Miguel Clement, Christophe's son. Miguel grew up in his father's barn, worked as his assistant, and took over the stable after Christophe passed. Now he's sending out a horse in the race that carries his father's name. Tawny Port won the Belmont Gold Cup going two miles at Saratoga in June and should love the extra distance here. Ole Crazy Bone has been running well all year. Program Trading and Minaret Station round out a field with enough talent to make this competitive from gate to wire.
Clement trained horses who moved through races like they had a secret the rest of the field didn't know. If one of these seven can do the same on Saturday, the new name will fit just fine. Also on the card: the Galway Stakes ($200,000), another quality turf race worth a ticket.
→ 🏇 LUSTER GOES FOR THE CROWN
The 167th King's Plate at Woodbine. $1 million. First leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. And a filly is the overwhelming favorite.
Quick fact most Americans don't know: the King's Plate has been running since 1860. That's 15 years before the Kentucky Derby. North America's oldest continuously run stakes race isn't at Churchill Downs. It's at Woodbine. I'll give you a second to process that. Nobody's won the Canadian Triple Crown since Wando in 2003, so the drought is old enough to drink in most provinces.
Luster (1/1) is the real deal. She's 4-0-1 from five career starts, won the Woodbine Oaks by 5 1/2 lengths in a time of 1:50.99, and gets John Velazquez in the saddle for trainer Josie Carroll, a three-time Plate winner and Canadian Hall of Famer. A field of 12 is drawn against her, and the morning line says it doesn't matter. Even money means Woodbine thinks this horse is on a different level than everything else in the gate.
Brachetto (5/1) is the Marine Stakes winner and would be the first Manitoba-bred horse in history to win the Plate. That's a real angle for a horse who hasn't missed the board in five career starts. Ryan Munger rides.
Highwaytothemoon (6/1) won back-to-back stakes heading into this, including the Plate Trial, and gets Rafael Hernandez, who has three Plate trophies already.
Dixie Law (10/1) is the other filly in the field. Graded stakes winner, took the Ruling Angel this year, and ran second in the Oaks behind Luster. Pietro Moran rides.
Military Time (12/1) is the Mark Casse runner, a Gun Runner colt who's been knocking on the door all year without quite breaking through.
Five supporting stakes round out the card, including the Canadian Stakes (G2) and King Edward (G2). First post 12:30pm ET.
→ 🐴 HARNESS: DAN PATCH NIGHT + CARL MILSTEIN MEMORIAL
Quick history for anyone who doesn't know the name: Dan Patch was so dominant in the early 1900s that nobody would race against him. They just timed him against the clock. He endorsed tobacco, washing machines, and sleds. When he died in 1916, it was front-page news. His owner died the next day.
Tonight's Dan Patch Stakes at Hoosier Park, first post at 5.30pm ET, might be the deepest pacing field of the year. Eleven horses. Seven millionaires. Nearly $15 million in combined earnings, 292 victories between them, and a $300,000 purse. Little Rocket Man is back for his fifth crack at the Dan Patch for trainer Ken Rucker. He was the favorite last year and finished eighth. Sabonis took it. This is a redemption tour. The Ron Burke barn sends three, including Bythemissal, Fallout and Harrisburg Heist. Captain Optimistic gets Dexter Dunn in the bike, fresh off his Hambletonian win last Saturday. This is a loaded card.
Tomorrow night, the Carl Milstein Memorial ($300,000) headlines at Northfield Park at 6pm ET, alongside the Tom Aldrich President's Trot ($100,000) and the Myron Charna President's Pace ($100,000). Three stakes, one card, one night.
→ 🏇 LONGACRES MILE: CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY AT EMERALD DOWNS
The 91st running of the Longacres Mile anchors Championship Sunday at Emerald Downs, the biggest day on the Pacific Northwest racing calendar. The original Longacres track in Renton closed in 1992. It's a Boeing office park and a soccer training ground now. The race outlived the building it was born in, which is more than most of us can say about our New Year's resolutions. Six stakes on the card, including the WTBOA Lads, WTBOA Lassies, Emerald Distaff, Washington Oaks and Muckleshoot Derby. First post time 4:50pm ET.
→ 🏇 MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🇺🇸 Saratoga. The Mahony Stakes (G3, $225,000) headlines Sunday's card, one day after the Clement Turf.
🇺🇸 Monmouth Park. Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3, $150,000) on Saturday.
🇺🇸 Del Mar. Solana Beach Stakes ($150K) Saturday. Rancho Bernardo (G3, $100K) Sunday.
🇺🇸 Colonial Downs. Two stakes Saturday, headlined by the Find Stakes ($125K).
🇺🇸 Canterbury Park. Minnesota Derby ($75K) and Minnesota Oaks ($75K) Saturday.
🇬🇧...coming midweek. The York Ebor Festival opens Wednesday, and it's on World Pool. You know the drill by now. Global pool = bigger liquidity, right there in your MyWinners lobby. Wednesday and Thursday are both live. If you've been sleeping on World Pool, this is the week to wake up.
→ 🏈 NFL PRESEASON: ALL 32 TEAMS, ALL WEEKEND
The NFL is back. Preseason Week 1 runs Thursday through Saturday with 16 games, and tonight the Jets host the Bucs at MetLife at 7pm ET on NFL Network. Saturday's slate gets big: Panthers at Bills, Vikings at Giants, Eagles at Ravens and Cowboys at Seahawks, all with national broadcasts on NFL Network. And live on 300+ screens at both BV's venues.
None of this counts for anything, and I will be watching every snap of the Giants game on Saturday while pretending it doesn't matter. Quick shoutout to Steve in finance, who spent five years saving up for Bills season tickets with his cousin. You might have seen a pic of his seats. Steve, buddy, there is a steel column where your end zone should be. I've seen better sightlines from the parking lot. The Bills went 13-4 last year and this man is watching the game through a keyhole. If you see Steve this week, buy him a coffee. He's been through enough.
The Premier League kicks off next Friday, August 21. Arsenal vs Coventry City opens it up, and for the record, I'm a Chelsea 💙 fan. Arsenal won the league last season and I'd very much like that to not happen again. Season-long bets are available now at MyWinners venues here.
🏈 Host Your NFL Fantasy Draft at Bobby V's.
Grab your league, round up the group, and spend three or four hours doing your draft the right way: cold beers, chicken wings, hundreds of big screens, and a genuine excuse to get out of the house. We've got private rooms available for hire and tables you can book. Bring your laptops if you're going digital, or go old school with one of our physical draft kits, complete with board and paper pieces, available first come, first served. If you're in NY, CT or MA, we're the ideal spot. Book your fantasy draft party ASAP as space is maxing out.
Book online here or directly with the venue: BV's Windsor Locks:email to book. BV's Stamford: email to book.
→ THIS WEEK'S PROMOS 💸
Leon, our Head of Promotions, continues his personal mission to give away more of the company's money than any single human should be allowed to. This week is no different.
Leon, our Head of Promotions, continues his personal mission to give away more of the company's money than any single human should be allowed to. This week is no different.
The Spa Big Exotic Cash Splash. $2,000 prize pool (800,000 reward points). Cash 9 winning exactas or trifectas across separate races across Fri, Sat and Sun, Aug 14-16. Three days at the Spa, nine tickets to cash. Whoop whoop. Opt-in here →
Boost Your Bankroll at Saratoga is rolling into Week 5. Bet $157 or more on any qualifying Friday at the Spa and earn a $5 bonus, credited on Mid Summer Derby Day, Saturday August 29. Stack every Friday and that's $35 by Travers weekend. Win, place and exotic bets count. Show bets don't. MyWinners online only.
Bet and Get continues at Mountaineer and Finger Lakes. Cashback this week: 3% on US and Canadian harness, 4% on Australian greyhound.
→LIVE FROM THE BLOG
Rob, our resident copywriter, has been chained to his desk in what I can only describe as a content sweatshop, and the results speak for themselves. Do him a favor, and give them a read.
The King's Plate, a $750,000 G1 at the Spa, Dan Patch Night, Championship Sunday at Emerald Downs, and the NFL coming back all in the same three-day stretch. I currently have four screens set up on my kitchen table and my wife asked me if I was launching a space shuttle. I told her I was. She did not laugh.
See you at the rail.
Mike B
VIP & Community, MyWinners
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. Apex won the Hambletonian last Saturday in a stakes record 1:49.2. That's a mile in under 1:50, while trotting, pulling a driver in a sulky. If these horses break stride, they're disqualified. They're covering ground faster than most people can bike and they're not allowed to gallop. Marcus Melander swept the Hambletonian and Oaks on the same card, only the fourth time in history.
P.P.S. Someone in Illinois won $1.04 billion on Wednesday's Powerball. A billion. I checked my ticket. It was not me. Tomorrow's Powerball resets to $20 million, and tonight's Mega Millions is sitting at around $90 million. I ran the numbers and my odds of hitting either one are roughly the same as my odds of correctly picking a 10-leg parlay, getting my wife to agree to a fifth screen in the kitchen, and the Giants winning the Super Bowl, all on the same day. I'm still buying a ticket. Tickets at all nine MyWinners venues. One of us is due.
