Clash of Millionaires in Saturday’s Miami Mile Handicap

Graded Winners Win for the Money, Neat Head 1M Turf Test

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Grade 1-winning 7-year-old Win for the Money and fellow millionaire Neat, a 5-year-old winner of three graded-stakes, will have the field surrounded when they line up for Saturday’s $65,000 Miami Mile overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The Miami Mile for 3-year-olds and up, scheduled for two turns on the turf course, is joined by the $75,000 Palm Bay overnight handicap for 2-year-olds going a one-turn mile over the main track on a 10-race program that gets under way at 12:20 p.m.

Live Oak Plantation’s Win for the Money will be making his 29th career start in the Miami Mile and his eighth on the Gulfstream turf, all for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. The chestnut gelding by 2016 Fountain of Youth (G2) and Holy Bull (G3) winner Mohaymen has run third or better 18 times, six of them wins, none bigger than the 2024 Woodbine Mile (G1) in a 13-1 upset.

Win for the Money has also placed in six other graded-stakes including a half-length loss as the favorite in the 2024 Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream, where earlier that spring he was a dominant winner of the Mr. Steele, both going two turns on the grass though at 1 1/8 and 1 1/16 miles, respectively. In all, he has banked $1,061,379 in purse money.

“I wish they were all like him – just a nice horse, and a millionaire which we’re always proud to achieve,” Casse said. “He’s carried the red dots and the black sleeves with great honor over the years. He’s a neat old horse.”

Win for the Money has won one of five starts this year, a rallying neck triumph over yielding ground in an Aug. 2 optional claimer at Colonial Downs. Most recently he was third, beaten 3 ½ lengths, in the Sept. 6 Red Bank on a Monmouth Park turf course rated good. Both races came at one mile.

“I thought he was very game in his win at Colonial,” Casse said. “I’m not sure he cared for the give in the ground at Monmouth. It was pretty loose [and] I’m not sure he liked that very well. He should enjoy the much firmer turf course at Gulfstream.”

Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning jockey Sonny Leon will ride Win for the Money from the rail at 123 pounds, one fewer than topweight Divin Propos. They are listed at 4-1 on the morning line.

“Sonny is a very good rider. I’ve been really impressed with him, and I feel very confident when he’s riding for us,” Casse said. “It looks very competitive. It looks like there’s a fair amount of speed. I’m sure Sonny won’t give up a whole lot of ground early. We’ll try to save some ground on the first turn. I’ll leave that up to Sonny.”

Breaking from outermost Post 9 is Neat, making his 23rd lifetime start and first for owners Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher and trainer Mike Maker. The chestnut son of 2014 Florida Derby (G1) winner Constitution, claimed for $80,000 out of a fifth-place finish Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs, owns seven wins and $1,018,135 in purse earnings.

“Maybe he’s not as good as he once was, but he’s got a lot of back class and he’s where we think he’s still good enough for some of these minor stakes. It just made sense,” Maker said of the claim. “[He’s] just a very class horse, does everything the right way, push-button. There’s not really much out there for him, so we figured we’d give Gulfstream a try.”

Maker, winner of the 2016 Miami Mile (G3) with Smokem Kitten, has long had a reputation for turning claimers into graded-stakes winners. But in Neat he inherits a horse that has already won five stakes including the Transylvania (G3) at Keenland, Manila (G3) at Aqueduct and Hall of Fame (G2) at Saratoga in 2024 for previous trainer Rob Atras. Gulfstream will be his 12th racetrack in seven states.

“We take the same approach,” Maker said. “He’s an old, class horse. Maybe his running style wasn’t the greatest for Kentucky Downs, but now we’ll run at Gulfstream and go from there. I like the post and it looks like there’s plenty of pace signed on for him, as well.”

Rated at 6-1 on the morning line, Neat will add blinkers and carry 120 pounds including jockey Edwin Gonzalez, who won the first Grade 1 of his career aboard Forged Steel in the Sept. 26 Goodwood at Santa Anita.

The lukewarm 3-1 program favorite is Divin Propos (Rasheed Hughes, Post 6, 124), owned and trained by Sunshine Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr. Bred in France, where he won two of seven starts before coming to the U.S. in the summer of 2024, the 6-year-old gelding snapped an 11-race losing streak last out with a half-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Mambo Meister overnight handicap Sept. 5 at Gulfstream.

Michael and Jules Iavarone and TCC Stables’ 7-year-old Steal Sunshine (Post 8, Diego Herrera, 8-1, 121), chasing the $1 million mark at $893,670 in purses earned, is the other graded winner in the field courtesy of the 2024 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) on the main track. He is winless in six turf starts, finishing fourth – 1 ¾ lengths behind Divin Propos, in the Mambo Meister.

Also entered are BC Racing’s Prevent (Post 2, Leonel Reyes, 12-1, 118), a four-time stakes winner over Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course; Arindel homebred Tank (Post 3, Samy Camacho, 8-1, 120), who owns four turf stakes wins, three at Gulfstream; Just for Fun Stable, Inc.’s Indecisiveness, third in the Mambo Meister (Post 4, Jonathan Ocasio, 5-1, 121); Amy Dunne and Patrick Biancone’s I Know I Know (Post 5, J.G. Torrealba, 9-2, 119), most recently fifth in the 1 1/16-mile Tapit Aug. 30 at Kentucky Downs; and Paul Braus and Beau Chapman’s Jayhawk (Post 7, Miguel Vasquez, 30-1, 118).