MOM AND DAUGHTER – We already focused on small breeder MITCH KURSNER and the thrill of having a horse he bred, Safe Conduct, in the Plate. Another set of small breeders going up against the Sam-Son, Dalos, Adena Springs, etc. is MEGAN ALLAN and her mother LESLEY KRAUS. Allan, 37, is a mother of two who has been breeding a small number of horses in Ontario for several years and her mum Lesley has also bred horses. The best horse Allan has bred was $200,000 earner Rebel with a Chance who is now a broodmare with Allan. Derzkii was born on her Coldwater, ON, farm and was one of the biggest foals she has ever had. The son of Frac Daddy is from a mare that Allan bought for $3,500 in 2015.
Derzkii was actually named LADY’S FRAC DADDY when he was offered for sale as a weanling in 2018, but Allan bought him back for $2,700. She later sold him privately. The following year, trainer Carlos Grant offered the gelding for sale at the CTHS yearling auction and had already re-named him Derzkii. He was bought back for $19,000.
Read more about Megan Allan Thoroughbreds here.
Derzkii as a foal with Megan Allan’s daughter Melila.
H C HOLIDAY is a win…nope, he is a maiden! – The weird tale of H C HOLIDAY has not yet been completed, but Ivan Dalos’ colt is an interesting case. Bought back by Dalos from the 2019 CTHS sale for $35,000, the colt was trained by Mike Maker in 2020 and made his career debut in a six-furlong race on an all-weather track, Turfway Park in Kentucky, and he finished 11th and was not racing with Lasix.
Six months later the dark bay reappeared at Woodbine on opening weekend and won at 10-to-1 in a key maiden race, earning a 72 Beyer Figure.
But 19 days later (!) a ruling came down from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission that H C Holiday was “ineligible” for the race:
Take notice that the horse H C Holiday, trained by Kevin Attard and owned by Ivan Dalos which participated in the twelfth (12) race on June 13, 2021 and finished first (1st), was ineligible and is hereby disqualified and unplaced for all purposes except pari-mutuel wagering. The horse H C HOLIDAY did not have the medication” Furosemide” administered for the purposes of racing when the horse was certified on the Ontario EIPH program.
So H C Holiday was officially a maiden when he raced July 3 in an allowance/optional claiming race against older horses, finishing fourth with Avoman third. He raced on Lasix. He was then third in the Plate Trial on Aug. 1 and placed second, still as a maiden.
Dalos’ lawyer Stephen Jack issued a statement on August 19 regarding the disqualification on behalf of the owner:
Mr. Dalos is disappointed with the ruling of the Stewards regarding disqualifying H C Holiday from the 12th race at Woodbine on June 13th, 2021. Mr. Dalos maintains the decision was not correct and was not fair. Mr. Dalos is thankful for the continued ongoing support from the entire racing community on this matter in sharing his opinion that the decision made by the Stewards was incorrect and unfair. Finally, Mr. Dalos looks forward to having a fair and impartial hearing where all the evidence will be presented before the Ontario Horse Racing Appeal Panel. Mr. Dalos remains hopeful that the original outcome of the race will be restored.
STEIN-FACTOR – Jockey Justin Stein has ridden five of the Plate starters and he has been the only rider of KEEP GRINDING who was made the Plate favourite. But Stein will stick with his Oaks-winning filly MUNNYFOR RO who could be favoured come Sunday. Stein won on Riptide Rock last time, was the regular rider of Avoman until he rode Truffle King in the Plate Trial, and he rode Haddassah in two races before taking Keep Grinding in the Marine.
Odds are that Stein might have made the winning choice this year. Last season he was the rider of MIGHTY HEART, but took Dotted Line for the Plate
AMERICAN VS. CANADIAN – Well-bred sophomores from Canada often wind up in big yearling sales in the U.S. and thus you will often see American-owned Queen’s Plate runners. The 2019 Plate winner ONE BAD BOY shipped in from northern California to win with another US based colt Tone Broke, finishing third (and later going on to win the Prince of Wales Stakes).
This year’s 13-horse field has some American flavour. HARLAN ESTATE, named after a California wine, is owned by Exline-Border Racing, Madaket Racing, Clay Scherer and Colorado Avalanche NHL’er Erik Johnston.
Exline-Border is the partnership and syndicate stable of Randy Exline and Justin Border, based on Paso Robles in California. The team has raced Breeders Cup winners and was racing Harlan Estate in California in 2020 where the colt by Kantharos won a one-mile turf maiden race. A $39,000 buy-back as a yearling, Harlan Estate was sold for $90,000 at the Ocala March 2-year-old in Training sale. The buyers were agents Meah and Lloyd Bloodstock.
Madaket Stable is one of several stables owned by leading owner Sol Kumin. Clay Scherer is a Kentucky-based Bloodstock agent responsible for picking out stars such as Shesdaresthedevil, last year’s Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner.
Intriguingly, Harlan Estate was bred by Ivan Dalos, who has come so close to winning the Plate and has been a leading breeder in Canada for several years. Dalos does have a homebred in the plate field, H C HOLIDAY by his own stallion Ami’s Holiday.
DANCE SOME MO is American trained as Graham Motion has been conditioning this gelding for Sam-Son Farms.
WellSpring Stables of Robert Vukovich of New Jersey owns SAFE CONDUCT and American Phil Serpe trains and AL AND BILL Ulwelling of Minnestoa own HADDASSAH, although the father-and-son team are ‘adopted Canadians’ since they have been racing and breeding in Ontario for several years. RAROMA STABLE of Rajendra Maharajh owns MUNNYFOR RO and her owner is from Trinidad but has family in Ontario.
Stallions OLD FORESTER, FRAC DADDY and AMI’S HOLIDAY are the Ontario studs with Plate starters.
PLATE WINNERS IN PEDIGREE – Every horse in the field traces back to the greatest of them all, Northern Dancer. But there are a few other Plate entries this year who have Plate winners close in their breeding. DANCE SOME MO could be the most obvious Plate winner simply on breeding.
His dam’s sire AWESOME AGAIN won the Plate and his third and fourth dams, DANCETHRUTHEDAWN and DANCE SMARTLY, also won the Plate.
HARLAN ESTATE has 1959 Plate winner in his fifth generation, as does maiden GO TAKE CHARGE.
FIELD FOR THE QUEEN’S PLATE
Post – Horse – Trainer – Owner – Jockey – Morning Line Odds
1 – SAFE CONDUCT – Phillip Serpe – WellSpring Stables – Irad Ortiz Jr. – 5-1
2 – HARLAN ESTATE – Kevin Attard – ERJ Racing, Ex-Line Border Racing, Madaket Stables, Clay Scherer – Kazushi Kimura – 12-1
3 – HADDASSAH – Kevin Attard – Al & Bill Ulwelling – Gary Boulanger – 10-1
4 – TAKE A CHANCE – Catherine Day Phillips – Anderson Farms Ontario Inc., William Carr, Donald Ferguson – Keveh Nicholls – 20-1
5 – H C HOLIDAY – Kevin Attard – Ivan Dalos – Luis Contreras – 15-1
6 – MUNNY FOR RO – Kevin Attard – Raroma Stable – Justin Stein – 9-2
7 – RIPTIDE ROCK – Sid Attard – Stronach Stables – David Moran – 6-1
8 – KEEP GRINDING – Tino Attard – Joshua Attard – Rafael Hernandez – 4-1
9 – GO TAKE CHARGE – Breeda Hayes – Hillsbrook Farms – Sahin Civaci – 30-1
10 – DANCE SOME MO – Graham Motion – Sam-Son Farm – Patrick Husbands – 12-1
11 – AVOMAN – Don MacRae – La Huerta Imports & Don MacRae Racing Stable – Antonio Gallardo – 8-1
12 – TIDAL FORCES – Gail Cox – Sam-Son Farm – Emma-Jayne Wilson – 12-1
13 – DERZKII – Carlos Grant – Fieldstone Farms Inc. & Jecara Farms Corp. – Jason Hoyte – 30-1
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