Six horses, including the aptly-named Queen’splatekitten, are set to go postward in Saturday’s featured $150,000 Marine Stakes at Woodbine.
Owned by Mill House and trained by Todd Pletcher, Queens’platekitten, a dark bay son of Kitten’s Joy, will make his third start at the Toronto oval and sixth overall, having launched his career with two races at Woodbine last year.
The 5-1 second choice in the Queen’s Plate Winterbook, behind filly Inglorious (4-1), Queen’splatekitten has lived up to his billing as a main contender for top prize in the Queen’s Plate, set for June 26.
In his debut, last October 30, Queen’splatekitten was full of run late over a ‘yielding’ E.P. Taylor Turf Course, rallying from twelfth to finish second, 1 ½ lengths back of the winner.
On December 3, as the even-money choice, the colt drew off late to win by 5 1/4 lengths in a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race.
Jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, who has won the last two Queen’s Plates with Eye of the Leopard and Big Red Mike, respectively, was aboard for the impressive score.
“I really like him and I really like his style,” offered da Silva. “He’s a very laid-back horse, very relaxed and very talented. But he’s also very competitive. In the race I rode him, he responded easily when I asked for his best. I still had a lot of horse left at the wire.”
Queen’splatekitten won by more than a whisker in his seasonal bow, on February 5 at Gulfstream Park, a 1 ½-length victory at one mile on the grass.
In his first added-money test, the Grade 3 Palm Beach, on March 12, he was second as the mutuel favourite. Queen’splatekitten’s most recent start resulted in a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 16, a race that saw him stumble and drift in.
The Ontario-bred will take on Woodstock Stakes champion Oh Canada, Silverleo, third in last year’s Display Stakes, maiden Bow Bell Reef, rising turf talent Walker’s Landing and Cafe Elektric, a Roger Attfield trainee who will make his Woodbine debut after five starts in England and one in the U.S.
Last year, Big Red Mike led from wire to wire to defeat Sam-Son Farm’s Hotep to take the winner’s share of the $1 million Queen’s Plate purse. The Nick Gonzalez trainee was 12-1 in the Winterbook.
Can Queen’splatekitten deliver da Silva his third-straight victory in Canada’s most famous horse race?
“It’s a little bit early to say,” he said. “At this point, I like to be conservative. He ran well on the Polytrack when he was here before. Hopefully, he can do it again this Saturday.”
The Plate Trial (June 5) and Victoria Park Stakes (June 12), both key Plate preps, are still left on the schedule.
The Marine is listed as race nine on Saturday’s 11-race programme. First post is 1:00 p.m.
FIELD FOR THE MARINE
Post / Horse / Jockey / Trainer
1 / Cafe Elektric / Jono Jones / Roger Attfield
2 / Silverleo / Jesse Campbell / Greg de Gannes
3 / Queen’splatekitten / Eurico Rosa da Silva / Todd Pletcher
4 / Walker’s Landing / Patrick Husbands / Chad Brown
5 / Bow Bell Reef / Quincy Welch / Desmond Maynard
6 / Oh Canada / Luis Contreras / Robert Tiller
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