Large field set to run in Queen's Plate
Field widens after Harlem Rocker withdrawal
Last Updated: Monday, June 16, 2008 | 7:57 PM ET
By Malcolm Kelly CBC Sports
Not Bourbon, winner of the Plate Trial Stakes, will run in Sunday's Queen's Plate. (Ho-Michael Burns/Canadian Press)This Sunday's 149th running of the Queen's Plate features one of the largest fields in years.
And that means it's going to be, well, a horse race.
Monday at Woodbine race track in Toronto, 10 of the 15 horses currently on the entry list were paraded out for guests and media, and along the paddock rail there was general agreement from the experienced hands that this outing could be a good one.
"I don't know when the last time was we got a field this big but you know what, it's great to see," said Sandy Hawley, the retired legendary jockey who has four Queen's Plate victories to his credit.
"I think it's a wide open race this year, there's no horse really outstanding where you would say 'Oh yeah, he should be a 1-9 favourite.'
"You can make a case for a lot of the horses here."
The last time they had a field like this was 2000 when 16 horses (there's a 17 limit) went to the post and Scatter the Gold came home the winner.
In recent years, there's been a field of just eight (2007) and nine (2005).
And it may be the absence of one horse that has brought such a large field in, say onlookers.
That would be Frank Stronach's Harlem Rocker, very much the winter book favourite who ran a poor fourth at the Plate Trial two weeks ago and this past weekend was officially withdrawn.
Suddenly, there's a crowd thinking they can win and that's a good thing says Rob Landry, who will be in his 17th Plate — this time on the well-thought-of Solitaire.
"I've ridden in races where we've had a lot more than [15 horses]," Landry said. "That's part of horse racing.
"The fans like to see the big fields and we're all about the fans."
Though there are a lot of horses considered to have a chance, favourites have come to the fore.
Chief among those is trainer Roger Attfield's Not Bourbon, winner of the Plate Trial Stakes who has four wins and been in the money seven times in nine outings.
He tired late in the Plate Trial under jockey Jono Jones, but still posted the fastest time since the race went to a mile and an eighth back in 1980.
"He's a street fighter," Attfield told CBC Sports last Friday. "He's not an overly big horse, but he loves to train and he's a very tough horse who loves to compete."
Attfield has won seven Plate's and one more will tie him for the all-time record with Harry Giddings Jr (1911-1942).
Right behind Not Bourbon is Solitaire, with Landry up.
He has 16 previous Plate rides and won on Niigon in 2004.
Solitaire was coming hard on the rail at the Plate Trial and just ran out of race track, finishing second to Not Bourbon.
"I've always had success for Mr. Bond [trainer James], and he said he had a real nice horse that he thought had real ability," said Landry, of how he got the ride.
The colt hasn't let him down.
Sebastian's Song, with David Clark up (this will be his 21st Plate and he's won twice) led the Plate Trial for a bit before dropping back to third and he's strongly considered.
As are the Frank Stronach-owned entrants, Ginger Brew and Jungle Brew. Ginger Brew is hoping to be the first filly to win since 2001 and everybody, including Hawley, seems to like her.
She won the Woodbine Oaks (for fillies) by six lengths and has never been out of the money.
Jungle Brew is one of five maidens in the race (having never won before) but is ridden by the experienced Eibar Coa, the jockey who took Canadian-owned Tale of Ekati to fourth in this year's Kentucky Derby.
When the field is this large, does that mean the jockey can make a big difference?
Yes and no says last year's winner Emma-Jayne Wilson (the first woman to take the Plate), who has Shadowless this time around.
"When you can win by just a whisker, or by 10 [lengths], sometimes it just boils down to that combination [of jockey and horse]," she said. "It's a combination, it is a team effort.
"[But] what it boils down to is, it's horse racing, not jockey racing."
Drawing for post positions goes Thursday morning at Woodbine, with Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry as the special guest.
