by Steve Bailey

Shadwell Stable’s multiple Grade 2 winner Shakis (Ire), fresh off a third-place finish to dual classic winner Big Brown in the Monmouth Stakes, will take on 12 challengers in the $600,000 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Keeneland Race Course.

Among those entered in the race is Rahy’s Attorney, who enters off a 1 1/4-length victory in the Woodbine Mile Stakes (Can-G1) on September 7 at the Toronto track.

The winner of the race is guaranteed a spot in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series. Rahy’s Attorney already secured a spot in the Mile with his victory in the Woodbine Mile.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Shakis has won one of five starts this season, capturing the Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2) at Saratoga Race Course for the second straight year. He defeated fellow Shadwell Turf Mile participant War Monger by three-quarters of a length.

An eight-year-old Machiavellian horse, Shakis finished three-quarters of a length behind Big Brown in the Monmouth Stakes on September 13 in his previous outing.

Rahy’s Attorney has won two of his six starts this season for trainer Ian Black. In addition to his Woodbine Mile triumph, the four-year-old Crown Attorney gelding won the Connaught Cup Stakes (Can-G3) on May 25 at Woodbine.

Rahy’s Attorney has made every one of his 17 career starts at Woodbine, which like Keeneland has a synthetic Polytrack surface as its main track. He has won six of nine career starts on turf.

Also entered are multiple graded stakes winners Thorn Song and Buffalo Man.

Trained by Dale Romans for Zayat Stable, Thorn Song finished fourth behind Shakis and War Monger in the Bernard Baruch on August 23. The five-year-old Unbridled’s Song horse captured an allowance/optional claiming race at Churchill Downs on June 8 and followed that performance with a victory in the Firecracker Handicap (G2) on July 4 at the Louisville track.

Buffalo Man, a four-year-old El Prado (Ire) colt trained by Cam Gambolati, has won three of his six turf starts this year, including the Inside the Beltway Stakes on July 9 at Belmont Park and the Red Bank Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park on August 30 in his previous outing.

Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times

The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer:

1. Shakis [Ire] (Machiavellian), Rafael Bejarano, 126, Kiaran McLaughlin;

2. Kingship (King Cugat), Cornelio Velasquez, 126, Charles Dickey;

3. Thorn Song (Unbridled's Song), Robby Albarado, 126, Dale Romans;

4. Elusive Fort [SAf] (Fort Wood), Rene Douglas, 126, Raja Malek;

5. Lord Admiral (El Prado [Ire]), Jamie Theriot, 126, Charles O'Brien;

6. War Monger (War Chant), Kent Desormeaux, 126, Bill Mott;

7. Buffalo Man (El Prado [Ire]), Carlos H. Marquez Jr., 126, Cam Gambolati;

8. Lovelace [GB] (Royal Applause [GB]), Royston French, 126, Mark Johnston;

9. Society's Chairman (Not Impossible [Ire]), Jono Jones, 126, Roger Attfield;

10. French Beret (Broad Brush), Julien Leparoux, 126, Mark Frostad;

11. Karelian (Bertrando), Miguel Mena, 126, Rusty Arnold II;

12. Rahy's Attorney (Crown Attorney), Slade Callaghan, 126, Ian Black; and

13. Museeb (Danzig), Rafael Bejarano, 126, Kiaran McLaughlin.