Queen's Plate

WellSpring Stables' New York invader Safe Conduct (Bodemeister) pressed, pounced and just held off the late-charging Riptide Rock (Point of Entry) to win the 162nd Queen's Plate in a dramatic finish at Woodbine Sunday. With top U.S. jockey Irad Ortiz, riding in his first Queen's Plate, in the irons and making his first start over a synthetic surface, the 3-1 favorite was under a hold while tracking longshot pacesetter Take a Chance (Munnings) through fractions of :24.01 and :48.37. The bay colt rolled up to challenge the pacesetter nearing the...

Munnyfor Ro (Munnings) looks to become the fifth filly in the last 10 years to beat the boys in Woodbine's most prestigious race, the $1-million Queen's Plate S. for Ontario-breds. Breaking her maiden on the grass while part of the Brian Lynch's shedrow this spring, the chestnut was third in a turfy allowance at Churchill May 8 and was sixth in the GIII Regret S. three weeks later. Sent back to Kevin Attard, she checked in second on the local synthetic in the GIII Selene S. and followed that with...

Penny Oleksiak and Kayla Sanchez, each a multiple medallist in swimming at the recently completed Summer Olympics in Tokyo, have been named celebrity ambassadors for this Sunday's C$1-million Queen's Plate at Woodbine. "At Woodbine Entertainment we are so proud of our Canadian Olympians and how they represented our country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games," said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. "We are thrilled to have Penny and Kayla participate in the traditions of The Queen's Plate which will also serve as a reflection of the gratitude and pride we...

Munnyfor Ro (Munnings) completed a quick-fire stakes double for her outstanding sire, overcoming a tough trip from a double digit gate to take out Sunday's C$500,000 Woodbine Oaks in Toronto. Settled behind midfield through the opening furlongs, the $65,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase traveled four and five off the inside--though with some cover--down the backstretch and began working into it entering the final half-mile. Four deep for the run around the second turn, she sustained a long run despite the ground loss, hit the front in upper stretch and stayed...

A total of 39 graduates of LongRun, one of the first adoption and placement programs for Thoroughbred racehorses in Ontario, are part of Race to the Plate, an initiative that invites people to sponsor a horse to a maximum of $25 per person, with each $5 donation providing one length for the horse as part of a contest that culminates with a winner being announced Aug. 22, Queen's Plate day, at Woodbine Racetrack. "One of our TAA [Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance] partners, Maryland Horse Rescue, they did an event like this...

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) will partner with Woodbine Entertainment Group for the 2021 Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. OLG has been a long-time sponsor of the Triple Crown, encompassing the Queen's Plate at Woodbine, the Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie and the Breeders' S. at Woodbine. "OLG's continued support of horse racing helps organizations like Woodbine bring the fast-paced action of horse racing to more Ontarians," said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. "With their support, we are able to enhance premier Thoroughbred racing events...

What a singular coincidence, and literally so, that two of the best horses recently bred in Canada--and that has never been a negligible distinction--should both have only one eye. True, the origins of Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun) and Mighty Heart (Dramedy) could scarcely be more diverse. The 2019 GI La Brea S. winner, who was retired a few weeks ago, graduated from one of the most admired breeding programs in North America, which routinely sends yearlings to Keeneland as coveted as any making a shorter trip from the...

Woodbine has released a stakes schedule for its 2021 Thoroughbred meet, which has been delayed from its Apr. 17 scheduled opening due to COVID-19 restrictions in the province of Ontario. As it stands, the track is targeting a June 18 start date, with the possibility of opening sooner. The stakes program offers more than C$16.5 million in purses, including 39 graded events and two million-dollar races, the Queen's Plate--still on its original Aug. 22 date--and the Sept. 18 GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile, one of three "Win and You're" in races...

Chiefwood Stables' Weyburn (Pioneerof the Nile) breezed an easy half-mile in :50.93 seconds over Belmont's training track Wednesday in preparation for the Apr. 3 GII Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. A winner going seven panels in the Big A slop last December, the Ontario-bred kicked off 2021 with a nose victory in the Mar. 6 GIII Gotham S., a race in which Weyburn earned 50 qualifying points to the GI Kentucky Derby. "He just ran hard [in the Gotham] and he's not the heaviest horse in the world, so he didn't...

To the outside world, Eurico Rosa Da Silva came off as a good-natured, level-headed jockey whose natural talent led him to the top of the standings at Woodbine Racetrack and to seven Sovereign Awards as Canada's champion rider. But underneath that veneer was a person whose anger and troubled past had consumed him, nearly leading him down a path to total destruction. Da Silva rose from the poverty of a small town in Brazil to become the dominant rider in Canada before retiring in 2019. But that's not what his...

The 162nd running of the $1-million Queen's Plate, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, will be held Sunday, Aug. 22 at Woodbine, Woodbine Entertainment announced Tuesday. Contested annually to showcase Canada's finest 3-year-old Thoroughbreds, The Queen's Plate is one of the country's premier sporting events and North America's oldest continuously run stakes horse race. Held at the end of June in past years, The Queen's Plate was moved to late summer in 2020 and run Sept. 12 without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One-eyed champion Mighty Heart...

The tale of a one-eyed horse who has come from nowhere to sweep the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown has been the feel-good story of the year at Woodbine, but the next chapter could end with an uncomfortable twist. Mighty Heart (Dramedy) is the even-money favorite in Saturday's Breeders S., a role he earned after decisive victories in the Queen's Plate and the Prince of Wales S. But there's a rapidly improving, dangerous horse in the field named Belichick (Lemon Drop Kid) who should relish the mile-and-a-half...