KALIK, the probable favourite for the 164th King’s Plate, is sure to have a lot of fellow Canadian-bred three-year-olds to defeat if he is going to win the biggest race in the land. And the chestnut colt, owned by Americans Robert LaPenta, eFive Racing and Madaket Stable, trained by New York-based Chad Brown and bred in Ontario by Anderson Farms and Peter Berglar, will be making his first start in his home country and first start on the Tapeta surface.
But Kalik, who will be ridden by Woodbine’s leading rider KAZUSHI KIMURA, has followed the same path to the Plate as 2021 Plate winner SAFE CONDUCT. The latter, a turf horse with a natural speed style, was fourth in the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3) at Belmont and eighth in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby before he won the Plate. Kalik won the Pennine Ridge and was also eighth in the Belmont Derby.
Trainer Brown has been pointing Kalik to the Plate since the Pennine Ridge win. The colt, who got a bit rattled prior to his most recent race and was fractious before going in the gate, will have to be able to handle the ‘pomp and pageantry’ of a large Plate crowd come August 20.