Strait of Dover, who captured the 2012 Queen’s Plate in his final start, was euthanized on Sunday, July 14 due to complications following surgery for a twisted large colon at Milton Equine Hospital.
Trained by Dan Vella and ridden confidently by Justin Stein, the Canyon Farms homebred made every pole a winning one while taking the $1-million Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most famous horse race, in Plate record time.
“I’m shocked and heartbroken that he’s gone,” said Stein. “He had a true racehorse heart. He knew how to win. He was getting better and better with every start.”
An emotional Stein fondly recalled Strait of Dover’s professionalism.
“He was focused on his racing,” said Stein. “He strutted his stuff before the race. After the race, when he’d won, he knew he was a winner and was proud of himself. He might have been the best horse I ever rode.”
Bred in B.C., the dark bay son of English Channel-Bahrain Star was winless in two starts at Hastings in Vancouver before being shipped to Woodbine.
Once he set foot on the Woodbine main track, Strait of Dover was unstoppable. In five Polytrack starts, Strait of Dover never had a horse finish in front of him (he was disqualified for interference and placed third in his Woodbine debut) including the Plate, first jewel of the Triple Crown.
Strait of Dover, fresh off a 6 1/2-length romp in the Marine Stakes, was peerless on Plate day.
Sent postward as the 7-2 second choice to Plate Trial winner River Rush, Strait of Dover went immediately to the front and never looked back, taking the field of 14 through splits of :23.85, :47.74, 1:12.31 and 1:37.07 en route to a 1 1/4-length score over filly Irish Mission in 2:01.99.
“Going down the front side the first time, he had his ears up,” recalled Stein of the Plate score. “He just kept on rolling and ran the race of his life on the right day.”
Strait of Dover’s sophomore campaign came to a halt after suffering a soft-tissue injury while training for the Breeders’ Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Stein believes that Strait of Dover, a Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s champion three-year-old male of 2012, had only bigger and better moments ahead as a racehorse.
“We were hoping for Grade 1 status with him. It’s a huge loss,” he said.
Strait of Dover posted a record of 4-0-1 from seven careers starts, and banked $765,449 in career earnings
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