TORONTO, June 3 – It’s been 15 long years since a winner of the Plate Trial Stakes went on to capture the Queen’s Plate. That was Alydeed in 1992. It appears that Jiggs Coz is poised to buck that trend when he lines up as the favourite on June 24 in the $1 million ‘Gallop for the Guineas’.
Sunday at Woodbine, Jim Dandy Stable’s homebred coasted to an impressive win in the 65th Plate Trial, scoring by three and one-quarter lengths over Marchfield. Alezzandro was a game third in the mile and one-eighth test for Canadian-bred three-year-olds. The final time was 1:50.77, as the field of eight Plate hopefuls all carried 126 pounds.
Now, the wait has started… 21 days to be exact, for the Sid Attard trainee to retain his sharpness as he readies for Canada’s most famous horse race.
For his owner and breeder Mel Lawson of Hamilton, a Plate win would be the epitome of a lifetime of involvement in the racing game. Back in 1984, his Let’s Go Blue lost a contentious Plate to Key to the Moon. And while Lawson has since won a number of important stakes races, including the 2002 Labatt Woodbine Oaks, Canada’s premier race for Canadian-bred three-year-old fillies, with Ginger Gold, also trained by Attard, a Plate win would no doubt crown his breeder-owner career.
The Trial didn’t unfold as many thought it would in the early stages. Alezzandro, bred and owned by the late Steve Stavro of Knob Hill Farm, went immediately to the front, with Jiggs Coz in close pursuit. Alezzandro, a winner of his only start just three weeks ago, a six and one-half furlong maiden contest, continued to plod along with jockey Jono Jones, controlling the pace through fractions of :23.92 for the quarter, :48.82 for the half and 1:12.95 for six furlongs.
But Jiggs Coz, a grey son of turf star Cozzene, and jockey David Clark were shadowing the pacesetter, and it was just a matter of time before he took over coming off the far turn as the duo straightened for home. From there, the odds-on choice widened easily, as Alezzandro, on the rail, hung tough but was passed near the wire for second by a closing Marchfield and jockey Patrick Husbands.
“We just kind of planned to be wherever he was comfortable,” recalled Clark, who has won two Plates, in 1981 with Fiddle Dancer Boy and in 1985 with La Lorgnette. “We thought there would be a little more pace in the race and it didn’t develop. And he was where he was very easily, he was kind of dragging me out of the tack the first part. But he settled. He was in great shape today. He got a little bit tired (going the mile and one-eighth) but that’s his first time as a three-year-old packing 126 (pounds). It’s going to get to anybody.”
Jiggs Coz began his three-year-old campaign in style on May 5, a thoroughly dominating winner of the seven furlong Queenston Stakes by the same margin he scored by today, three and one-quarter lengths. Hence, the heavy favouritism.
Last year, he won two of three starts, breaking his maiden on the grass, finishing third to eventual two-year-old champion Leonnatus Anteas in the Coronation Futurity before closing out his juvenile campaign with a victory in the mile and one-sixteenth Display Stakes.
“He was a nice two-year-old,” said Attard, looking for his first Plate win. “He always showed he could run. You hope as a three-year-old he gets better and he did. (Today) I was really happy when I saw the slow pace and he’s right there.”
And although he admitted that Jiggs Coz may have got a little tired at the wire, Attard explained, “It’s really hot today…muggy and everything. And it’s his first time (this year going a mile and one-eighth). He’d only run seven-eighths.”
But even if Jiggs Coz was a little tired at the wire in the Trial, Attard has no concerns about the Plate distance of one and one-quarter miles, an eighth of a mile longer than today’s race. “I don’t think it will be a problem for him. The farther for him, the better.”
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
