164th King's Plate, Woodbine Oaks: CT's Top Hopefuls

The 164th King’s Plate is on August 20, the Woodbine Oaks a month before on July 23, so there is still a lot of time to get Canadian-bred three-year-olds ready for the two biggest races for sophomores born in this country.

Coming up this weekend at Woodbine are two early stepping-stone stakes races for the Oaks and Plate: the seven-furlong Fury stakes on June 10 and the Queenston, also at seven furlongs, on Sunday, June 11.

In Plate and Oaks news is the big win by KALIK (Collected – Coronation Street, by Street Cry (Ire) in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge Stakes on turf at Belmont Park. The flashy chestnut colt, bred by Anderson Farm and Peter Berglar Racing Interests, led all the way through 1 1/8 miles to win by a length in 1:47.85 for a 90 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form.

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The Pennine Ridge provided the top-three finishers an automatic invitation to the $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) on July 8.

“He’s doing super and we’ll point to the Belmont Derby,” Brown said. “We have an eye on the King’s Plate later in the year with him.”

That’s three straight wins for Kalik, all on grass. He is trained by Chad Brown for Robert LaPenta, eFive Thoroughbreds and Madaket Stables. Kalik was a $200,000 Keeneland September sale yearling in 2021.

So Kalik moves up to #1 on Canadian Thoroughbred‘s King’s Plate contenders list as the previous leader, EQUIVOQUE, has not had a workout since his second-place finish in an allowance race at Churchill Downs on May 6. The Good Magic colt, who posted a 96 Beyer in his debut win in April at Keeneland, is trained by Todd Pletcher.

At Churchill Downs on June 3, MISSION OF JOY rolled to a big win in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the turf. Mission of Joy and jockey Tyler Gafflione stalked the pace early in the Regret and went on to a 1 1/2 length win in 1:49.85 for a 90 Beyer Figure.

“Today, Tyler got her into a beautiful position and she really impressed me,” said her trainer, Graham Motion. “She’s a Canadian-bred so we’d obviously look at some of those races but also some of the longer turf races in New York this summer. She handled the mile-and-an-eighth today and proved it wouldn’t be an issue moving forward.”

This was the second graded stakes win for Mission of Joy (Kitten’s Joy – Smart Mission by Smart Strike) this year and she has won four of her last five races for RyZan Sun Racing LLC and Madaket Stable. Mission of Joy was bred by Sam-Son Farms and the filly was a $32,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling purchase.

New to the Plate list is SIMCOE, a Chiefswood Stable homebred gelding who surprised a field of runners on June 4 with a 12-to-1 victory. The son of Uncle Mo – Aurora Lights by Pulpit won his maiden for trainer Katerina Vassilieva on May 7, his third career start, and then came right back last weekend to beat older horses in 1:4496 for 1 1/16 miles. He received a 78 Beyer Figure.

A smart second in the race was the three-year-old filly WICKENHEISER, who is an Oaks contender.

John and Diana Russell’s STANLEY HOUSE, with a pair of high Beyer Figures from a maiden win and a second-place finish in an allowance race, had a strong workout on June 4 for 5 furlongs, speeding the distance in 1:00.

NORTHERN INVADER made his second career start on June 4 at Churchill Downs in a maiden special weight at seven furlongs. Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Northern Invader was a closing second and earned an 84 Beyer Figure. The colt is by Collected and was bred by Anderson Farm.

CANADIAN THOROUGHBRED‘S TOP 15 KING’S PLATE HOPEFULS

1. Kalik (Collected) – Lapenta, eFive Racing, Madaket Chad Brown
2. Mission of Joy (filly) (Kitten’s Joy) – Ryzan Sun, Madaket Graham Motion
3. Equivoque (Good Magic) – CHC Racing – Todd Pletcher
4. Twin City (Klimt) R. , R., and B. MClellan, S. Simon, Stuart Simon
5. Stanley House (Army Mule) – J. & D. Russell – R Aramata, Jr/Mike DePaulo
7. Northern Invader (Collected) West Point Tbdrs, David Ingordo – Cherie DeVeaux
7. Philip My Dear (Silent Name (Jpn)) – Raroma Stable – Kevin Attard
8. Velocitor (Mor Spirit) A., B. Ulwelling Kevin Attard
9. Abadin (Speightstown) – Three Diamonds Farm, Main Line Racing – Todd Pletcher
10. Gold Magic (Good Magic) – Al and Bill Ulwelling – Kevin Attard
11. Ancient Peace (War Front) (filly)- Boardshorts Stables – John Sadler
12.Poulin in O T (reload) Owens and Empress Stable – Steve Owens
13. Moon Landing (Nyquist) R. LaPenta, eFive – Kevin Attard
14. Wickenheiser (Lemon drop Kid) C. Schere, A. and B. Ulwelling Kevin Attard
15. Mo Tourist (Tourist) Al and Bill Ulwelling – Kevin Attard

WOODBINE OAKS CONTENDERS

1. Mission of Joy
2. Ancient Peace
3. Big Brass Bed
4. Wickenheiser
5. Tito’s Calling
6. Fashionably Fab
7. Botta Swing
8. Elysian Field
9. Souper Sinclair