The early local favourite for the King’s Plate, STANLEY HOUSE, leads a field of 12 for the $150,000 Plate Trial on July 23, Woodbine Oaks day. The 1 1/8 mile Trial requires all entrants to carry the Plate weight of 126 pounds.
Trainer MIKE DEPAULO has finally been released from a controversial suspension (capsaicin positive) just in time to saddle Stanley House and Tito’s Calling in the Oaks.
Owned by John and Diana Russell, Stanley House has won two of his last three races and this is his first stakes race attempt. He has Beyer Figures of 85, 85 and 84 from his last three outings, making him a ‘Triple Advantage” (his last 3 Beyers are higher than the last 3 of any other entrant).
The 2022 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt PHILIP MY DEAR will try to get into the Plate with a better run than he had in the Queenston on June 11. The Silent Name (Jpn) colt, trained by Kevin Attard for Raroma Stable, was only 4 1/4 lengths behind winner Kaukokaipuu in the Queenston and will enjoy the 1 1/8 mile distance better. The colt won the 1 1/16 mile Cup & Saucer on turf last season and was a close third behind stablemate VELOCITOR in the Coronation Futurity. Kazushi Kimura has ridden Philip My Dear in all of his races.
Velocitor adds Lasix and will shed the blinkers for his third start of this year. He was seventh in the King Corrie Stakes behind TWIN CITY and eighth in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes.
Twin City, second in the Coronation Futurity last fall, won his season debut, the King Corrie, by a nose, but faded to seventh in the Marine.
The lightly-raced TIBURON gets Lasix following his maiden win June 10 for trainer Attard. The Good Magic colt will have Manny Franco on board. Attard will also send out the maiden PAT’S GAMBLE for Ivan Dalos. The dark bay has raced twice and been fourth each time. Emma-Jayne Wilson will ride.
PARAMOUNT PRINCE, second in the Queenston, is a speedy runner for trainer Mark Casse. The gelding is by Society’s Chairman and Patrick Husbands will ride.
DePaulo and the Russells, along with co-owner Newtop Stable, have COOL KISS in the race. The Kantharos gelding has won two seven-furlong races including one this year. Chiefswood Stables’ SIMCOE, a maiden winner at 1 1/16 miles on June 4, was fifth in the Marine for trainer Katerina Vassilieva. Rafael Hernandez rides.
GRAN SPIRITED, unplaced in two sprints this year, FOREST BUZZ, a sprint winner on the turf this year and GUNS ‘N ROJAS complete the field.
The last Plate Trial winner to win the Plate was BIG RED MIKE in 2010, the third straight Trial winner at the time, after Not Bourbon and Eye of the Leopard, to also come back to take the Plate.
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