Queen Elizabeth to Visit Toronto's Woodbine Track |
| The biggest event in the Canadian racing calendar is the Queen's Plate for Canadian-bred three-year-olds, run over 2,000 m. at Toronto's Woodbine racetrack. This year the $1,000,000 race has an added attraction in that the sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, will be in attendance for the contest named for her (it was known as the King's Plate during the reign of King George VI). Incidentally, this is the oldest continuously run stakes race in the whole of North America and Sunday's renewal will mark its 151st running. Thirteen have been declared to run, which include a pair of fillies in Woodbine Oaks winner Roan Inish (by Elusive Quality) and the runner-up in that race, Moment of Majesty (by Saint Liam). The two distaffers will carry 121 lbs., while their male counterparts have to shoulder 5 lbs. more. The "morning line" favourite is Hotep, winner of the Wando Stakes on May 8 on his home track but defeated since – at the hands of Kentucky-bred Exhi (by Maria's Mon) in the Marine Stakes three weeks later. A homebred for Sam-Son Farms, the Mark Frostad-trainee is by A.P. Indy out of Canadian champion three-year-old filly Eye of the Sphynx (by Smart Strike) and is an own-brother to Eye Of The Leopard, who won the same race in 2009 en route to being recognised as Canada’s champion three-year-old colt. Local ace Patrick Husbands will try and guide Hotep home to victory. A pair of his stablemates will accompany him to the post, namely the superbly-bred Dark Cloud Dancer (by Storm Cat out of Canadian champion three-year-old filly Dancethruthedawn, who is by Mr. Prospector out of Dance Smartly) and Giant’s Tomb (by Awesome Again). Javier Castellano will steer the former while Mike Smith has been booked for the latter. An interesting candidate is Stronach Stables’ homebred Mobilizer (by Motivator), who was conceived in England – his owner has a share in the Vodafone Epsom Derby winner and chose to send Kris Is It (by Kris S.) across the pond to utilize the nomination. The trip will hold no terrors for him and he ought to be able to turn the tables on Big Red Mike (by Tenpins) who had beaten him into second in the Plate Trial Stakes on June 13. Jono Jones is to pilot Roger Attfield's charge. With a little improvement, Mobilizer ought to win. Roan Inish, who won the 9-furlong Woodbine Oaks in a timing only 0.12 seconds slower than that recorded in the Plate Trial Stakes on the same afternoon, should follow him home. Now a look at what’s happening at Europe. In Ireland, the odds-on two-year-old Zoffany (Dansili-Tyranny, by Machiavellian), another from Aidan O'Brien's stable, made amends for his disappointing display in Royal Ascot's Coventry Stakes (Gr.2). Essaying a smooth run from behind, the 220,000 guineas yearling, who is inbred to Natalma, easily made the 7-furlong Golden Fleece Stakes (L.) his own at Leopardstown on July 1. The form of the Coventry is working out well and the conclusion that Richard Hannon has a smart one in its winner, Strong Suit (by Rahy), is irresistible. Across the Irish Sea, Saturday sees the running of the historic Eclipse Stakes (Gr.1) over 10 furlongs at Sandown in England, a race which was first run in 1886, that year's event falling to Bendigo (by Ben Battle) who scored by three lengths. Only six are left in the smallest field since Becket's sire Hawk Wing saw off four rivals in 2002. Khalid Abdullah's Twice Over (by Observatory), Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Dar-Re-Mi (by Singspiel) and Sheikh Hamdan's Mawatheeq (by Danzig), all five-year-olds, are ranked as the highest rated runners and are fancied by the market in that order at 2 to 1, 3 to 1 and 6 to 1 respectively. One year younger, Zacinto (by Dansili), another in the Abdullah colours, carries the torch for his generation and can be had at 9 to 2. At one stage Aidan O'Brien threatened to have a multi-pronged attack, with no less than six three-year-olds left in, but all have defected bar the 7 to 1 Viscount Nelson (by Giant's Causeway), winless since annexing a Listed Race at Tipperary in August last year. Sri Putra (by Oasis Dream) is friendless at 25 to 1. Dar-Re-Mi did win the Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr.1) at Meydan after an absence from the track of almost 5 months so her 98 days away should not trouble her here; however, the race has shaped up perfectly for Twice Over and he is taken to win. North America The owners of the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Gr.1) Mine That Bird (by Birdstone) somewhat controversially decided to move the four-year-old gelding from the barn of New Mexico-based Chip Woolley to that of veteran D. Wayne Lukas in May. Lukas entered him in an allowance race that failed to fill and so has opted to run his illustrious ward in the Firecracker Handicap (Gr.2), on turf at Churchill Downs on July 4th. In his four-year-old debut the gelding, who has been training forwardly, will face 13 rivals. Another belated reappearance will be that of the high-class I Want Revenge (by Stephen Got Even) who would – if you believe his connections – have beaten Mine That Bird had he been able to participate in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Instead the colt was a race-day scratch. Since his last start he has been relocated from Jeff Mullins to the yard of Rick Dutrow who commented: "Talent-wise, he stacks right up there as far as his training goes. It seems like he’s ready to run. He’s a good one, and he’s supposed to be with these kind of horses. He’s been developing the way you want a 4-year-old to develop. Every day has been a good day with him." His first target is Saturday's Suburban Handicap, reduced in distance by a short-sighted NYRA to 9 furlongs (from 10 furlongs) in a move that will have long term negative repercussions for the American-bred. Here he will face Godolphin's Regal Ransom (by Distorted Humor), not seen in public since November 2009, when he finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr.1) at Santa Anita. A sign of the troubles being faced by the U.S. turf, as a result of that country's well-known economic woes, is the cutback in stakes at Keeneland's October meeting. The number of stakes events carded has fallen, with the Perryville Stakes (Gr.3) and Bryan Station Stakes having been axed, and overall prize money is down by about $1 million as compared to 2009. The meet will run from October 8-30. |
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