In 1860 DON JUAN won the first ever Queen’s Plate, taking 2 of 3 heats for the race which was for “horses bred in Upper Canada and had never won public money.” Don Juan was born and raised by John and James White at their farm on Bronte Road just north of the QEW highway in Halton.
The Plate has had a long and fascinating history as the longest continuously run horse race in North America. It is older than the Kentucky Derby. Heck, it is older than Canada.
In a tumultuous, COVID-19-ridden 2020, the Plate lives on, except a few months later than usual. There will not be fans in the stands but some owners of the 14 super Canadian-bred 3-year-olds will be able to attend, with restrictions.
Some of the owners bred their Plate starters but other breeders may be watching at home. Queen’s Plate @Home, the party package of fun social media events shared by Woodbine Entertainment, takes place today online.
The story, of course, is the horses. Their breeders and owners and their pedigrees and the mark they leave on racing and the industry going forward.
These horses have been 5 years in the making. The horse racing industry is vital to the province of Ontario with each horse born providing thousands of jobs in agriculture and reaching out to everything from auto sales, to feed to farm equipment and more.
Every horse racing in a packed 13-race card today provide a job for many people. It is a credit to the Ontario government and the horsepeople that racing was able to begin again in June, two months delayed, but people are at work, so are their horses.
So who will join the list of famous Plate winners, Northern Dancer, Bunty Lawless, With Approval, Dance Smartly, Izvestia, Wando and others?
Will Kevin Attard or Sid Attard, Catherine Day Phillips or Barbara Minshall get their first Plate win?
*My race picks are HERE but here is a summary of what it looks like:
WIN CONTENDERS (get more snippets on each horse below)
#10 CURLIN’S VOYAGE, a bossy filly, long and lean, copper coloured with a strip of white down her face. She is expected to be the hot favourite based on her fast win in the Woodbine Oaks, 3 of the last 10 Oaks winners went on to win the Plate. Trainer Josie Carroll has won 2 Plates, one with a filly.
# 6 HALO AGAIN, a big, strong colt born in St. Thomas, Ontario, at David Anderson’s farm and sold for $600,000 as a yearling. American owned and trained, he has an unusual high, galloping stride, but endless stamina.
#2 MERVEILLEUX – she’s wonderful, as her name suggests. A tough filly, she will love the 1 1/4 mile distance and was going strongly at the end of the Oaks. Second Plate mount for her young rider Kazushi Kimura. One of 2 contenders in the race for young trainer Kevin Attard seeking to add to a family dynasty in Canadian racing.
#12 CLAYTON is lightly raced with raw talent and he won the Plate Trial for Quebec natives Donato Lanni and Daniel Plouffe and the big shot for trainer Kevin Attard.
While Merveilleux offers 10 to 1 on the morning line odds, she may indeed be lower odds than that. Here are a few longshot plays for your superfectas and trifectas:
#14 TECUMSEH’S WAR – American owned but trained since the spring by Catherine Day Phillips, this colt was bred by James and Janeane Everatt and son-in-law Tim Meeuse in St. Thomas. He comes off a big effort against older horses in an allowance race.
#13 MIGHTY HEART – Toronto businessman Lawrence Cordes’ one-eyed wonder is another gun for trainer Carroll and he has been improving with each race.
#7 GLORIOUS TRIBUTE – He was also born at the Everatt’s farm, as was OLLIEMYBOY, and both are true-blue stayers who can get into the mix.
Here are your horses for Saturday’s Queen’s Plate – Race 10
Post Horse – Trainer – Jockey — Owner(s) — Last 2 Beyer Speed Figures — Odds
1 – Sweepin Hard (supplement) – Daniel Vella – Borders Racing Stable – maiden winner 61, 50 Leo Salles 50- 1
– A son of Ontario sire Conquest Curlinate, Sweepin Hard was made eligible for the Plate for a supplemental fee of $25,000 following his win in just his 2nd career race on Aug. 16. Trained by Dan Vella, who won the Plate with Basqueian, Sweepin Hard is owned by Hazel Bennett of Calgary, Alberta. Hazel is a retired investment advisor and volunteers, well, works with retired racehorses and training them for new careers.
“Start from 1, finish there.” – Dan Vella
2 – Merveilleux (filly) – Kevin Attard – Al and Bill Ulwelling – 3rd Woodbine Oaks 89, 76 Kazushi Kimura 10-1
– Tough filly Merveilleux is owned by Minnesota’s Bill and Al Ulwelling who have been supporting Ontario racing for a few years. One of their big stars, Pumpkin Rumble, was recently retired to LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement and has since been adopted.
3 – Belichick – Josie Carroll – NK Stable and LNJ Foxwoods 30-1
-Bred by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry of Toronto, Belichick is by Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid and was a $300,000 yearling purchase in 2018 at Keeneland by Solis/Litt agents. The colt, named for the famous football coach, races for Americans Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods and NK Racing, which is Nancy Favreau and Kathy Psoinos.
– improving maiden after 2 starts, 65, 63
“He has a tremendous amount of talent.” – Josie Carroll, who took over his training this year.
4 – Truebelieve – Cole Bennett – Centennial Farms (Niagara) – allowance winner 61, 77 Keveh Nicholls 30-1
– Domenic Dilalla of Niagara-on-the-Lake has raced horses at Woodbine for several decades under his stable name Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc, named for his Centennial Homes company. Truebelieve was bought as a yearling from breeder Laurel Byrne by Chetram Mohabir for just $2,000. Centennial obtained the horse this year. “The horse likes the rail.” – Cole Bennett
5 – Holyfield – Catherine Day Phillips – Kingfield Racing Stable, Roderick Ferguson & Anderson Farms Ontario – maiden winner 76, 64 Darryl Holland 30-1
– This is a Canadian-owned and bred fellow who has a story to tell about his early life (yes, he has part of his ear missing). Holyfield was bred by David Anderson and Rod Ferguson and races for them and trainer Catherine Day Phillips. The Uncle Mo gelding has improved with each race this year.
6 – Halo Again – Steven Asmussen – Winchell Thoroughbreds & Willis Horton Racing – 2nd Plate Trial 88, 81 Luis Contreras 5-1
– Willis Horton, a custom home builder from Arkansas, and the Winchell family, Ron and his mother Joan, own this big burly colt bred by David Anderson’s Anderson Farms in St. Thomas. Horton raced Belmont Stakes winner Will Take Charge among others while the Winchell family, first under founder Verne, has raced many champions including Gun Runner. Ron Winchell lives in Las Vegas. Top US trainer Steve Asmussen trains.
“I thought he stayed on very well in the Plate Trial. He has trained even sharper since.” – Steve Asmussen
7 – Glorious Tribute – Barbara Minshall – Bruce Lunsford – 4th Plate Trial 83, 69 David Moran 30-1
– Bruce Lunsford has raced horses at Woodbine for many years and also races in the US. In fact, the Kentuckian had the second favourite for this year’s Kentucky Derby, Art Collector, but the horse had to be scratched due to a minor injury. Barb Minshall has trained for Lunsford for several years; Stacked Deck was among the graded stakes winners raced here for Lunsford.
“He’s training really well. I picked the post because I want to have good positioning. I think he will get distance.” – Barb Minshall
8 – Olliemyboy – Sid Attard – JMJ Racing Stables – maiden winner 68, 66 Steve Bahen 30-1
– JMJ Racing Stables is owned by Dennis Narlinger of California and the stable is run by son Michael. Their first Grade 1 winner was a Canadian-bred, Interpol, who won the 2015 Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine for trainer Sid Attard. Sid has the family’s 3-year-old Union Rags colt set to try the Plate.
9 – Dotted Line – Sid Attard – Norseman Racing Stable 3rd Plate Trial 88, 83 Justin Stein 8-1
-Ontario-sired Dotted Line is by owner Howard Walton’s own stallion Signature Red. Trainer Sid Attard seeks his first Plate win.
“He’s coming around really nice now.” – Sid Attard
10 – Curlin’s Voyage (filly) – Josie Carroll – Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings & Windsor Boys Racing – Woodbine Oaks winner, 93, 87 5-2
– Bred by her co-owner John Sikura, a Canadian living in Kentucky, this big filly is also owned by the Windsor Boys, a group of friends from, you guessed it, Windsor. She is by Curlin, one of the world’s leading sires and her trainer Josie Carroll has won 2 Plates.
“She finds a way to get the job done.”
11 – F F Rocket – Al Stall– Frank Fletcher Racing Operations – maiden winner 61, 61 50-1
– This is a pretty colt by Curlin – Mekong Delta bred by Ted Burnett’s Josham Farms. Owner Frank Fletcher, from Little Rock, Arkansas has car dealerships, restaurants, a hotel, and racehorses and you can follow his horses on the Frank Fletcher Racing Site page on Facebook. He currently owns the fleet graded stakes-winning filly in New York, Frank’s Rockette.
-FF Rocket recently won his maiden at Presque Isle Downs in Erie with a 61 Beyer Figure. The colt was bought in Florida in 2019 as a 2-year-old for $525,000.
“He’s a nice horse, we couldn’t find a rhythm with him as a 2-year-old.” ~ Al Stall. “He’s done extremely well since his win.”
12 – Clayton – Kevin Attard – Donato Lanni & Daniel Plouffe – Plate Trial winner 89, 88 Rafael Hernandez 2-1
– The Plate Trial winner has come to hand nicely for trainer Kevin Attard. While still showing his inexperience, this son of Bodemeister has all the tools. Bred by Bernard and Karen McCormack, he is owned by Montreal-born Donato Lanni and Standardbred owner Daniel Plouffe.
“He’s lightly seasoned, he did enough to win Plate Trial. It’s only going to get tougher.”
13 – Mighty Heart – Josie Carroll – Lawrence Cordes – maiden winner 80, 74 Daisuke Fukumoto 20-1
– He has just one eye but that was a nifty maiden win by Mighty Heart earlier this year. He was bred by his owner Lawrence Cordes, who has been racing horses in Ontario for 20 years and he previous big horse was Turkish, winner of the Valedictory Stakes. His sire, Dramedy, winner of the Elkhorn Stakes on turf at Keeneland, had his first crop of foals race in 2019 and is now in Saudi Arabia.
14 – Tecumseh’s War – Catherine Day Phillips – Ilium Stables – maiden winner, 81, 67 Emma Wilson 12-1
Angelo Freda and his son James are in love with horse racing. Angelo, who lives in Connecticut, is a financial advisor and author. James is an attorney. Their first horse purchase was Tecumseh’s War, a son of Summer Front bred by the Everatt family in St. Thomas. For more on the Fredos here.
More from News:
