Toronto, ON – Fifty-year-old Russell Baze, the world’s winningest jockey, has been recruited by trainer Lorne Richards to ride K.K. Sangara’s Shut It Down in the Queen’s Plate, June 21.
Baze, who last rode at Woodbine in 2003 but also appeared in the 1999 Queen’s Plate, finishing eighth to Woodcarver aboard Dave the Comet, has notched 10,554 victories and over $162 million in purses, in a storied career which began in the mid 1970s on the U.S. west coast. The Vancouver native, who has already been inducted into the U.S. Horse Racing Hall of Fame, has led the continent in wins on 10 occasions and currently is once again the North American leader with 195 wins, while competing on the northern California circuit.
Shut It Down will be the first Plate entrant for Sangara and Richards, who have enjoyed great success this decade at Woodbine with runners such as multiple Sovereign Award winner Financingavailable. Shut It Down, a gelded son of Porto Foricos, has earned $193,985 so far in his eight race, two win, career. Last year, he scored in the Frost King Stakes. This season, he opened with a second-place finish to Plate rival El Brujo in the seven furlong Queenston Stakes, before finishing third in a mile and one-sixteenth allowance event on May 22.
“(On the Queenston), I didn’t do a whole lot with him,” explained Richards. “He ran well off what I’d done. I was confident he could step forward off that race. In his last race, though, he was boxed in when it came time to run. It just wasn’t the greatest race. But timing-wise, I liked it better than going in the Plate Trial (May 31).”
‘Tasty’ entrant on Plate menu
• Woodford Racing’s Tasty Temptation seeks to be the second filly in Queen’s Plate history to win the 1 1/4-mile event after a second-place finish in the Woodbine Oaks, presented by Budweiser. The only filly to perform the feat was Jammed Lovely in 1967.
Tasty Temptation was off tardily in the June 7 filly classic, rallied brilliantly into contention, but couldn’t stay with the 3 3/4-length winner Milwaukee Appeal.
“I’m sure some of the (speed figure) experts would say she’s going to bounce. Obviously with two weeks, it’s a bit of a concern,” said trainer Mark Casse. “As long as I’m happy with the way she has trained, she will run. If we’re not happy, we’ll wait a week and run in the Bison City.”
A total of 33 fillies have won the Queen’s Plate, the first jewel in Canada’s Triple Crown of Racing.
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
