Queenston Stakes Is The First Major Step to the Plate

The 67th Queenston Stakes, with a purse of $125,000, will give us the first look at many of the hopefuls for the 163rd Queen’s Plate slated for August 21 at Woodbine.

The Queenston, at seven furlongs, historically is won by a sprinting/middle distance type of horse, but a few winners have gone on to Plate glory. In 2008, speedy Not Bourbon won the Queenston and then won the 1 1/4 mile Plate for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield.

Gus Schickedanz’s Woodcarver won the 1999 Queenston and trainer Mike Keogh prepared the grey colt to take that year’s Plate. In 1996 Victor Cooley, the oldest living Plate winner, accomplished the Queenston/Plate double.

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This year’s Queenston field has a field of eight including several horses on Canadian Thoroughbred‘s Top 15 Plate contenders list. Those include SIR FOR SURE (Sligo Bay (Ire), a maiden winner at Gulfstream Park in the winter who comes off a layoff for Heste Sport and trainer Mark Casse, HIDDEN HONOR, who won his maiden for Hidden Springs Farm and Tino Attard at Woodbine this spring, Coronation Futurity winner THE MINKSTER and recent sprinter winners DUKE OF LOVE and RONDURE.

Duke of Love, a 2-time winner who posted an 86 Beyer Figure for the racing club My Racehorse and trainer Josie Carroll in a May 7 sprint romp, is a son of Cupid. Rondure (Oxbow), coming off a winter layoff, won his maiden by more than 10 lengths on May 14 for trainer Katerina Vassilieva and the Alberta/Monaco stable Borders Racing, also putting up an 86 Beyer Figure. Hidden Honor returned to racing in 2022 as a gelding and promptly won his maiden with a wide rally and a 75 Beyer Figure.

The two stakes winners in the field are Ironstone, third in the Woodstock Stakes in his season debut, and The Minkster, who was unbeaten in two races last year as a juvenile.

“He matured very well over the winter and he’s training better than ever,” said Vella. “He was in Ocala with Mike Cooke at Classic Mile. He was excited about him, and we’re excited to get him running.”

Bred in Ontario by Dr. Tan Hyka, the son of English Channel-Cabriole began his career with a 6 ¼-length romp over the E.P. Taylor Course last October.

Sent on his way at 5-1, The Minkster, under David Moran, broke inwards at the start of the 6 ½-furlong grass race contested over good ground.

Two lengths on top at the stretch call, the bay colt sprinted away from his rivals down the lane to notch the milestone victory in a time of 1:17.19.

The Minkster then moved up to the stakes ranks on October 30, where he took on 13 rivals in the $250,000 Coronation Futurity Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile test on the Toronto oval Tapeta.

At 13-1, The Minkster, despite lugging in during the stretch drive, notched a 1 ¼-length win in a time of 1:52.51, a 66 Beyer Figure.

“The Coronation, people want to take away something from it because of the time of the race,” offered Vella. “Any horse that can go out and win the Coronation quite comfortably and still run green in the second start of his life, going from 6 ½ furlongs on the grass to a mile and an eighth on the main track, that’s a pretty incredible feat.

“For me, as a trainer, for a horse to go from that distance in his first race to a mile and an eighth, to win comfortably against more seasoned horses… first off, he showed me distance isn’t a problem and secondly, he showed a lot of class. Very few horses have that high of cruising speed. In the Coronation Futurity, he was up close the whole way, and just kicked on like he had been dawdling. His high cruising speed and the way he finishes in his works is very impressive. So now, we’ll go from here and face the next challenge.”

Norcliffe, in 1975, was the last horse to notch the Futurity-Plate double.

Vella, who has two Plate trophies to his name, in 1994 with Basqueian, and in 2012 with Strait of Dover (also a son of English Channel), isn’t looming any further than Sunday’s race with his sophomore star.

“In horse racing, it doesn’t matter what you did before. From now on, every race is more important than the last.”

FIELD FOR THE $125,000 QUEENSTON

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Ironstone – Kazushi Kimura – Willie Armata
2 – Sir for Sure – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
3 – His Time – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
4 – Hidden Honor – Antonio Gallardo – Tino Attard
5 – The Minkster – David Moran – Daniel Vella
6 – Duke of Love – Justin Stein – Josie Carroll
7 – Rondure – Shaun Bridgmohan – Katerina Vassilieva
8 – Perfect Day – Abner Adorno – J. Tyler Servis