You could say the signs were all there.
Good omens and superstitions go along with any sport, horse racing included, and there were plenty to hang your hat on when it came to SAFE CONDUCT‘s arrival for the 162nd Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on August 22.
The big, long-striding dark bay colt had not been in his birth province since the early days of his life; he was born on February 21, 2018 at Grandview Farm of Mike Carroll near Fergus, Ontario.
His breeder, Mitchell Kursner, a horse racing fanatic brought into the sport by his grandfather, had only recently dipped his toe into the challenging business of breeding Thoroughbreds after years of owning a small stable of claiming horses. About five years ago, Kursner, who had stepped away from racing for a time to man his construction and building business, partnered in a few, better-quality horses and celebrated his biggest win in 2016 when Neshama won the Woodbine Oaks. Passionate about racing and breeding to the core, Kursner surrounded himself with some of the biggest names in racing and breeding: David Anderson, Richard Day, Catherine Day Phillips, John Fielding and Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry.
Kursner bought his first two mares the same year Neshama had her big win. One of them, Duchess Dancer, was a half-sister to one of his favorite horses, the Canadian Horse of the Year and Champion Sprinter Fatal Bullet. He paid $95,000 (US) for her in foal to Carpe Diem. After selling the mare’s first foal for $70,000 as a weanling, Kursner picked Bodemeister as the mare’s next mate. The young sire had a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop, Always Dreaming, but by the time Safe Conduct was a weanling, the stallion’s popularity began to wane. Kursner sold the colt for $45,000 at the Keeneland November sale in 2018 through top agent and friend Bernard McCormack’s Cara Bloodstock.
Skip ahead to 2020, the year of the tragic Covid-19 pandemic. Safe Conduct made it to the races under the watchful eye of trainer Phil Serpe, who was preparing the horse for New Jersey owner Dr. Robert Vokovich. The colt won a maiden race at Saratoga, sending Kursner over the moon. But then the colt got very sick and did not race again. The year was a tough one for Kursner, his wife Marla and daughter Hallee. The close family had lost loved ones, lost horses, and Covid-19 had wreaked havoc on businesses everywhere.
When Safe Conduct reappeared this winter in Florida and promptly won a turf allowance race, Kursner had new hope. Could his homebred colt, just the sixth horse he had ever bred, be a Queen’s Plate horse?
Things did not go to plan for Safe Conduct after that, however. A stakes race he was in came off the turf and he wallowed in the slop. He tried a Grade 1 turf stake at Belmont and got soft turf and faded. But Serpe was undeterred and pointed the colt to the Plate, run on the Tapeta surface, a track Safe Conduct had never set foot on.
In the weeks and days leading up to the Plate, though, good omens came the way of Safe Conduct. The Plate’s big name and early favourite, Weyburn, was ruled out of the race. One of the world’s leading jockeys, Irad Ortiz, Jr., took Safe Conduct for a strong workout on the Belmont grass and, as he was already set on riding some stakes races at Woodbine on Plate day, took the mount.
Three days before the Plate, a Standardbred trotter by the name of – you guessed it – Safe Conduct, was a longshot winner of a stakes race at Woodbine Mohawk Park in just his second career race.
Kursner visited the graves of his grandfather and his mother the day before the Plate.
And on a full moon Sunday, the incredible and long journey from foal to racehorse reached the heights of all heights. Safe Conduct won the Queen’s Plate.
Under a tactically perfect ride by Ortiz, Safe Conduct tracked longshot pacesetter Take a Chance through fractions of :24.01 for the first quarter, :48.37 for the half-mile, and 1:13.11 for six furlongs. At least half a dozen horses closed in on Safe Conduct turning for home as the other pace pressers dropped back. Ortiz worked hard, pushing his colt to the lead in the stretch, went to an underhand crop and got the colt home by a neck over a fast-closing Riptide Rock (Point of Entry) from Stronach Stables and trainer Sid Attard. The final time of 2:02.85 was good for an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s shown some speed before to the half, :48,” said Ortiz Jr., who was riding in his first Plate. “We thought maybe two horses had speed and we want to be out of the traffic, so I broke running. I sat second on the clear, I bided my time, waited for the right time to roll and when I asked him to go, he kept fighting down the stretch. He kept moving forward. I saw somebody was flying outside… that was very close, I didn’t know if I won the race after the wire but thank God I did.”
Ivan Dalos’ homebred H C HOLIDAY (from the first crop of Ontario sire Ami’s Holiday), mired in traffic around the final turn, angled out and rallied for third while the filly, Woodbine Oaks winner MUNNYFOR RO (Munnings), scrapped it out for fourth.
The Queen’s Plate winner’s circle – Irad Ortiz Jr. holds the Plate trophy with Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell and Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson. The Kursner family, from left to right, Hallee, Marla and Mitchell with assistant trainer Lisa Bartkowski. (JM photo)
Kursner and his family proudly led the colt into the Plate winner’s circle. Dr. Vukovich had elected to stay at home because of the lingering pandemic. Phil Serpe had run into a snag getting to Woodbine. But it was a joyous moment for those men watching a lengthy and carefully planned campaign come to fruition.
Even better news for the personable and popular Kursner is that Safe Conduct’s yearling half-brother by Grade 1 winner Collected is set to sell in the Keeneland September yearling sale, hip no. 2277. Earlier in the sale, Kursner sells a More Than Ready colt from his newest mare, the well-bred Cafe Matcha.
When asked about the incredible moment watching a horse he bred win the Plate, Kursner said “It means everything.”
*Fans were at the Plate for the first time since 2019 and the deafening roar for every race was extremely moving. Hats and dresses and suits and smiles behind the masks were plentiful. Wagering was very brisk. The total of $16,122,200 was the second-highest on Plate day history.
Woodbine put on a spectacular show of racing and entertainment – Canadian icon Jim Cuddy and his band played from the winner’s circle in mid-afternoon – to a crowd of half capacity, restricted due to Covid-19.
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