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2003 Queen's Plate winner Wando with Patrick Husbands up.    Queen's Plate Results and photos    Undercard results and other photos    Queen's Plate Entries    Post position draw comments Queen's Plate Barbecue Photos Queen's Plate Poll Who will win the Plate? A Bit O'Gold Alleged Ruler Archer Fleet Copper Trail His Smoothness Just In Case Jimmy Kent Ridge Long Pond Night Sky Niigon Picadilly Bay Silver Ticket Strike Em Hard Will He Crow

Updated: 6/25/04

Now that the American Triple Crown is over, the Canadian Triple Crown is just getting started. This year marks the 145th running of the Queen's Plate, Canada's premier race for 3 year olds at a mile and a quarter with a purse of $1,000,000 Canadian. This race is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown with the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie and the Breeders' Stakes at Woodbine comprising the other two legs.

The Queen's Plate trophy

The name of the race is a bit of a misnomer since the trophy isn't even a plate but a gold cup about a foot high with a beaver on top. King Charles II began awarding silver plates as racing prizes in the seventeenth century, but as variety was sought in the prizes, other pieces of silver and eventually other metals were used.

The race is known as the "gallop for the guineas" as the purse also includes an extra 50 Guineas to the winner (about $100) in the form of a draft from the Royal Privy Purse which is presented by the Queen's representative at the race. Minting of guineas was discontinued in England during the reign of George III whose forebear, George I, had instituted the gift of 50 guineas in racing, a tradition that remains though the guineas do not. This year the Queen's representative will be the Honourable James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

Despite the race being restricted to Canadian breds, some very nice horses have won in the past including Northern Dancer, Kennedy Road, With Approval, Izvestia, Dance Smartly, and Awesome Again. In 2000 the race was won by Scatter the Gold, a 3/4 sibling to that year's Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. In 2001, Scatter the Gold's full sister Dancethruthedawn won not only the Labatt Woodbine Oaks but went on to beat the boys and take the Queen's Plate as well. Last year, Wando won the Queen's Plate and completed the hat trick with the Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes to become the first Triple Crown winner since Peteski in 1993.

Post positions were drawn on Friday morning, so here are the entrants for the 2004 Queen's Plate with links to a profile for each and their connections along with posts and morning line odds.

Queen's Plate info online:

• Queen's Plate Barbecue Photos - several of the contenders were paraded for the crowd
• Woodbine main page
• Woodbine Stable Notes - mostly Queen's Plate info now and updated frequently
• Queen's Plate Stats and Trivia
• Queen's Plate Trivia Quiz
• Queen's Plate Winners 1860-2002
  • 2003 Results - the winner was Wando who went on to win the Triple Crown
  • 2002 Results - the winner was T J's Lucky Moon
  • 2001 Results - the winner was Dancethruthedawn
  • 2000 Results - the winner was Scatter the Gold
  • 1999 Results - the winner was Woodcarver
• Live Audio/Video from Woodbine
• SLAM! Horse Racing - Canadian horse racing news from the Toronto Sun
• WayMoreSports.com Horse Racing - more Canadian racing news from the Toronto Star
• TSN Horse Racing - more Canadian racing news from The Sports Network
• News Index Search - articles from the various online news sources

All photos ©2004 Cindy Pierson Dulay.

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