Kinghaven Farms’ David Willmot didn’t foresee a sparkling future for Izvestia when he first laid eyes on the rakish little grey as a foal. Izestia wasn’t exactly a showstopper.

“Izzy was one of the smallest, worst-looking, pathetic foals we ever had born on the farm,” said Willmot, the former president and CEO of the Woodbine Entertainment Group. “He was never a big, strapping horse.”

Still, Izzy managed to become not only the easiest of Queen’s Plate winners in 131 years and only the fourth Triple Crown winner in history, but he marched through his three-year-old season draped in superlatives.

Advertisement