King's Plate

It was quite a few days for Canadian-based trainer Kevin Attard. On Saturday, he won his first Breeders' Cup race with Moira (Ghostzapper) in the GI Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf and some 48 hours later she went through the ring for $4.3 million. Knowing he'd have plenty to say, we invited Attard to join us on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He admitted that saying goodbye to the best horse he has ever trained was difficult. "Well, right now it's extremely difficult, no doubt...

Stronach Stables's Vitality (Street Boss), sixth at 38-1 in the King's Plate Stakes Aug. 23, jumped up significantly in his dirt debut to deliver a powerful win in Tuesday's Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Having just broken his maiden two starts back for trainer Harold Ladouceur at Woodbine July 19, the chestnut gelding lined up as a 9-1 shot here. Drawn just outside of the filly Airosa (Uncle Mo), he settled in the second flight of runners past the wire for the first...

The King's Plate race card, rescheduled to Friday following torrential rains on its originally scheduled date last Saturday, produced total wagering handle of $11.6 million. The three-day weekend total handle was $24.5 million. "After Mother Nature had other plans for us last weekend, Friday was picture perfect for the King's Plate and the racing was outstanding," said Michael Copeland, CEO of Woodbine. "We couldn't have pulled off such a memorable day without the tremendous support of our racing fans, racing participants and entire Woodbine team." With the original King's Plate...

Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) deserves all the credit in world for her game performance in the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes. Facing off against one of the toughest Travers fields in memory, she beat everyone but Eclipse Award winner Fierceness (City of Light), losing by a diminishing head. She finished ahead of the GI Toyota Blue Grass winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and GI Belmont S. and GI Haskell S. winner Dornoch (Good Magic) and four other males. It was a special effort by a special...

Perhaps done in by a two-week turnaround when just beaten in the July 20 Woodbine Oaks, Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) proved possibly the biggest beneficiary of the six-day postponement of the C$1-million King's Plate, clawing her way past heavily favored My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) in the final 40 yards. The $375,000 OBS April breezer was off at 9-1 in the King's Plate--a race in which the fillies had more than held their own against their male counterparts--and took up a forward position from between horses...

Friday is shaping up to be quite a stakes-laden slate as the rescheduled King's Plate card from last weekend at Woodbine joins the GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga and a pair of pricey Grade IIs from Charles Town. TDN's full coverage of the races that were forced to move because of a deluge in Toronto can be found in Patrycja Szpyra's preview, plus a piece on the King's Plate by Bill Finley. As for the Spa feature, it boasts a set of intriguing match-ups between four of the runners...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - When one of Bob Baffert's horses is doing well, the Hall of Fame trainer expects a big effort. That's why 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has made his second cross-country trip in the last two months. That's why he is right here, in Saratoga, getting ready to run in the $500,000 GI Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday. "It's a tough race, there are no easy spots," Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar in California. "Anytime you have a Grade I,...

The absence of the 'Grizzly Bear' has not put a damper on Saturday's GI Alabama Stakes, neither for the connections in it nor likely for the betting public, but despite Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) being the class of the field, it's not as cut and dry of an affair. Currently sitting cosy at 7-5 on the morning line, Candied is deservedly the one to beat as victory in the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes, a third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and a gutsy second to 'TDN Rising Star'...

Mark Casse has only won the Queen's Plate/King's Plate three times, which is a little surprising when you consider how he dominates racing at Woodbine. But when 13 Canadian-breds line up for Saturday's first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown Casse will hold a clear upper hand. Among his three horses are 7-5 morning line favorite My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) and 2-1 second choice Essex Serpent (Honor Code). He will also send out long shot Midnight Mascot (Army Mule), who is 10-1 in the line. He believes this year's...

Josie Carroll recorded her 1,000th career win as a trainer in Sunday's fourth race at Woodbine when the 4-year-old Tapit gelding Spinzar won for LNJ Foxwoods. Carroll, who became the first woman to trainer a King's Plate winner in 2006, also trained this year's Woodbine Oaks winner. Horses racing out of the Josie Carroll barn include names such as two-time Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart (Dramedy), Careless Heart (Stormin Fever), champion 2-year-old colt Avie's Flatter (Flatter), Ami's Holiday (Harlan's Holiday) and champion 3-year-old colt Ami's Gizmo (Giant Gizmo)....

Kin's Concerto, whose lone previous victory came via disqualification, made it to the line first for the first time with a stylish victory in the Woodbine Oaks Saturday afternoon. The chestnut filly sat just off the pace while skimming the rail through fractions of :23.78 and :47.96. Behind a wall of horses at the top of the lane, Kin's Concerto angled to the center of the track in upper stretch and closed relentlessly to hit the front in the final strides. "We just wanted to break in early position," said...

Despite rearing at the jump, it was My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) who got up in good order to take the Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday afternoon. This effort was the third stakes win in a row for the grey, who has proven nearly unbeatable at his hometrack--having not won just twice in seven jumps at Woodbine, on debut in May 2023, when he ran second and last September in the GI Summer Stakes on the grass when he again played bridesmaid. He ran a respectable third in...