Toronto, ON – Sam-Son Farm’s impeccably-bred Eye of the Leopard collared Southdale in the final jump to win Sunday’s featured $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine.
Spotting his rival more than a length, after Southdale had opened a clear lead in mid-stretch of the mile and one-eighth contest, Eye of the Leopard, ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva, clawed his way to the front in the final stride, winning by a neck in 1:51.80 over the Polytrack. Rapid Release was a quickly-closing third, two lengths back.
It was the second consecutive win in just three lifetime starts for the Sam-Son homebred product of A.P. Indy-Eye of the Sphynx, who now becomes one of the favourites for Canada’s most famous horse race, the $1 million Queen’s Plate, three weeks from now on June 21.
Sam-Son has won four Plates, with Regal Intention in 1988, Dance Smartly in 1991, then back-to-back victories with Scatter the Gold in 2000 and Dancethruthedawn in 2001, while trainer Mark Frostad has three Plate wins, the latter two Sam-Son runners and Victor Cooley in 1996.
Multiple stakes winner El Brujo went postward the 8-5 choice, with Southdale, another highly-regarded recent maiden winner also making just his third start, a close second choice at 2-1. Eye of the Leopard was the 5-1 third choice.
Longshot Costalivin led the field of 10 through a quarter in 24.77, a half in 49.66 and the three-quarters in 1:13.78. But the field was tightly bunched coming off the far turn, with no more than four lengths separately a half-dozen hopefuls.
Southdale, who had stalked the pacesetter throughout, made his move, as did El Brujo, who attempted to sweep his way to the front on the outside. Meanwhile, Eye of the Leopard swung out four wide to join the leaders turning for home and the drive to the wire was on.
Southdale looked like a winner at the sixteenth pole before being nipped by Eye of the Leopard in the final strides.
“I was very, very confident,” said da Silva. “He was relaxing in the race. Down the backstretch I had so much horse. I was just waiting for the right time to let him run and that’s what I did. He was running very focused. In the middle of the turn, I had no choice, we had to go outside but he made a very good move, continued to run strong and galloped out beautifully.”
Trainer Frostad decided to add blinkers to Eye of the Leopard after his first career outing at Keeneland in April, when he finished a distant eighth.
“He just wasn’t focused. We ran him without blinkers and he was just looking around.”
Eye of the Leopard then broke his maiden confidently with blinkers on May 10 at Woodbine, going a mile and one-sixteenth, and followed that up with an even more impressive performance today.
“He’s just a big, goofy kid right now. He’ll get better as he goes along,” continued Frostad. “He doesn’t have a whole lot of seasoning but his last two races have been terrific. I was getting concerned (about the way the Plate Trial was unfolding). We went a little wide the first turn and we were very wide coming out of the second turn. You lose a lot of lengths doing that but you don’t want to have to check a horse like this. He’s such a big animal. He gets into stride and you don’t want to do anything to discourage him.
Fortunately, Eurico got him there in time. I hope he keeps getting better.”
Last year, Not Bourbon won the Plate Trial and the Queen’s Plate en route to divisional honours.
Eye of the Leopard returned $13.10, $6.20 and $4.50, combining with Southdale ($4.60, $3.60) for a $46.10 (10-5) exactor. A 10-5-2 (Rapid Release, $8.10) triactor was worth $746.20, while a $1 Superfecta
[10-5-2-4 (Active Duty)] paid $4,511.65.
Plate Trial Quotes
Emma-Jayne Wilson, jockey of second-place finisher Southdale: “It was a great trip. He’s only had a few races under his belt. He’s still learning. He’s still got a few more things to figure out. It was his first time going two turns and it was an extended two-turn distance. I’m really happy with the way my horse responded and I think it set him up good for the Plate.”
What does he have to figure out? “A lot of little things and a lot of seasoning. He’s doing everything right just based on ability. From his last race to this race, the gallop boy has been getting him to switch his leads and getting him to relax. Ideally, if he would do everything I asked him to do, it would be perfect, but he’s not always that cooperative. He was a little sharp today. First time going two turns, he was ready to go. He thinks he’s the man. As far as I’m concerned, that was a winning race. He knew (Eye of the Leopard) was there, but I don’t think he knew truly how close he was.”
Jono Jones, jockey of third-place finisher Rapid Release: “He tried his heart out. We had a really nice trip and he was digging in down the lane. He was training really well coming into the race and he showed up today.”
On teaming up again with Hall of Fame conditioner Roger Attfield, who won the Queen’s Plate last year with Not Bourbon: “We’ve got the right man (Attfield) training him, so let’s hope we can get another one together.”
Corey Fraser, jockey of fourth-place finisher Active Duty: “It sort of turned out the way I thought. These races everybody takes a hold. I was expecting a slow pace. I stayed as close as possible. He fired. We’ll see where we go from there. He’s progressed well. I like how Mark (trainer Casse) has him right now. Hopefully, we’re going to the Plate. He’ll handle (1 ¼ miles), definitely.”
Gerry Olguin, jockey of fifth-place finisher Keino West: “He ran a good race. He was coming. He’s just a little bit behind the eight-ball because he didn’t race over the winter. I know the horse can get the distance. We give him some more ground, he can be right there.”
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