Queen’s Plate kicks off the Canadian Triple Crown
Queen’s Plate kicks off the Canadian Triple Crown
Saturday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine begins the unique Canadian Triple Crown. Delayed in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, the series of races is restricted to 3-year-olds who were foaled in Canada. A field of 14, which includes two fillies, will go ten furlongs on the synthetic Tapeta racing surface at Woodbine.
Different from the American Triple Crown, north of the border the races are run on three different surfaces with the mile and three-sixteenths Prince of Wales at Fort Erie run on the dirt and the final leg back at Woodbine on the grass in the Breeders’ Stakes at a mile and a half.
Clayton was installed as the 2-1 morning line favorite based on his recent victory in the Plate Trial which is the major prep race for the first leg of the Triple Crown. Trainer Kevin Attard will try for his first win in the Queen’s Plate with this son of Bodemeister.
“He’s been special from the get-go,” explained Attard. “He was an impressive maiden winner, so once that happened, the bell starts ringing in your head, and you’re saying, ‘Hey, maybe I’ve got a good 3-year-old here.’ He followed it up with a good race first time out this year — didn’t win but had traffic trouble — and I think he learned a lot. That was encouraging. Obviously, he’s won his last two since then and stretched out. He’s doing everything you want him to. Hopefully, he just needs to get a little bit better one more time and maybe he can put everything together.”
The 5-2 second choice is the filly Curlin’s Voyage who is trained by Josie Carroll. Carroll won this race twice in the past including in 2011 with another filly Inglorious. Actually, females have victories four times in the last nine years.
Curlin’s Voyage always brings her best to track every time with a record of 9: 5-2-1 which includes a win in the recent Woodbine Oaks.
“She finds a way to get it done,” Carroll said of Curlin’s Voyage. “She always shows up and she’s a very, very special filly. We’ve always thought very highly of her after her 2-year-old debut. She’s a very uncomplicated filly and does everything you ask of her.”
The $1,000,000 Queen’s Plate, Woodbine, Saturday, Race 10.
(10) Curlin’s Voyage is a filly with the highest speed figure in the field from her recent victory in the Woodbine Oaks. She used a strong closing move to take the lead at the top of the stretch to draw off and win by almost two lengths. Trainer Josie Carroll has won the Queen’s Plate twice and one time was with a filly. (12) Clayton is the winner of three out of four starts in his career with consistent speed figures and his only loss came in his second start after a troubled trip. Most recently he won the Plate Trial and the top four from that race are in this field. (2) Merveilleaux is the other filly in this field and she finished third in the Woodbine Oaks with a game effort that came after she ran into traffic at the top of the stretch. (13) Mighty Heart made a dramatic turnaround after getting on the Tapeta at Woodbine. Trained by Carroll, he won a maiden and then was third in a high-level allowance at Woodbine where he had the lead in the stretch. He has the feeling of a horse that is ready to make another improvement.