A total of 57 Canadian-bred three-year-olds are eligible to the 159th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate set for June 30 at Woodbine Racetrack following the sustaining payment deadline on May 2.
The initial February 5 nomination list consisted of 109 three-year-olds including 14 fillies. Fifty-six of those horses remain eligible to the Queen’s Plate plus the addition of supplemental entry Home Base, a recent maiden winner at Keeneland owned by Patricia’s Hope LLC and trained by Michael A. Tomlinson.
The connections of seven fillies have made sustaining payments to the 1-1/4 mile first jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown and the list includes Sovereign Award winner and impressive Kentucky Oaks runner-up Wonder Gadot for trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber, along with Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry’s two-time stakes winner Dixie Moon from the Catherine Day Phillips stable. Both are joined by Hot Cash, Jack’s Memory, No Extensions, Queen’s Fate and Zestina as Queen’s Plate eligibles also on the updated list of 27 fillies nominated to the 63rd running of the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks Presented By Budweiser, set for June 9. It was just last year that a filly, Stronach Stables’ Holy Helena, won both the Oaks and Queen’s Plate.