        |
|
 |
Woodward Stakes Day Pennsylvania Derby Day Mohawk Million Night Woodbine Mile Day Prince of Wales Stakes |
|
|
 Honorary drawmasters Cindy Klassen and Brad May at the Queen's Plate post position draw |
Date: 6/21/07
The post positions for Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate Stakes were selected in the large, tree-shaded walking ring at Woodbine on Thursday morning during a special breakfast ceremony. This year marks the 148th edition of the Plate, the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America. It is the premier race for Canadian-foaled 3-year-olds, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, and is contested at 1 1/4 miles with each horse carrying 126 pounds, but this year will mark the first Plate run over Polytrack. Like at the Kentucky Derby, selection order is determined using a "double-blind" random draw of numbered pills and entry forms. This year, honorary drawmasters Cindy Klassen, winner of five medals in speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and NHL veteran Brad May of the Stanley Cup winning Anaheim Ducks, assisted racing secretary Steve Lym and track announcer Dan Loiselle in drawing the selection order.
 Trainer Sid Attard selects post position 6 for favorite Jiggs Coz |
After a five-minute discussion period, each horse's connections had ninety seconds to come up on stage to select the post, by hanging the owner's colors on the board. During the post position selection process, track announcer Dan Loiselle briefly interviewed the trainer who made the selection. Trainer Sid Attard choice post 6 for 9-5 morning line favorite Jiggs Coz. He said, "He wore number 6 in the Plate Trial, so we'll stick with the 6. He's training really really good and he'll move forward from that last start."
Post time for the Plate will be 4:37pm Eastern on Sunday June 24nd and the race will be televised in Canada on TSN from 4:00 to 5:00pm and simulcast to many locations throughout the United States. Free past performances are available from Daily Racing Form. This year's royal representative will be the Honourable James K. Bartleman, The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, who will present the trophy to the winning owner.
|
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | M/L Odds |
| 1 | Cobrador | Richard Scherer | Emile Ramsammy | 20-1 |
| 2 | Daaher | Kiaran McLaughlin | Alan Garcia | 15-1 |
| 3 | Include Us | Roger Attfield | Robert Landry | 20-1 |
| 4 | Alezzandro | Kevin Attard | Todd Kabel | 15-1 |
| 5 | Twilight Meteor | Todd Pletcher | John Velazquez | 4-1 |
| 6 | Jiggs Coz | Sid Attard | David Clark | 9-5 |
| 7 | Marchfield | Mark Casse | Patrick Husbands | 3-1 |
| scratched | ||||
| 9 | Mike Fox | Ian Black | Emma-Jayne Wilson | 12-1 |
Mark Casse, who won the first pick for post positions, consulted with owner Eugene Melnyk by phone before choosing post 7 for 3-1 second choice Marchfield. When asked what his biggest concern will be on Sunday, he quipped, "Not running fast enough. The pace means a lot, that would be my second concern. We need some pace to run at because he just goes and goes. The distance won't be a problem for him."
Ginny DiPasquale, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher selected post 5 for 4-1 third choice Twilight Meteor. She said about the choice and her horse's chances on Polytrack, "Todd wanted the five and we got it. (Twilight Meteor) won on the Polytrack at Keeneland and handled it very well. He's mostly a turf horse but I think he's going to handle Woodbine's too, or at least I hope he does."
Kevin Attard chose post 8 for last year's champion juvenile Leonnatus Anteas, who is 6-1 on the morning line. "We're looking for a stalking trip so I didn't want an inside post. I'm happy with the way he's going, he had a great start to his sophomore campaign. We know that he's a class horse, he showed us that last year, he should run well." Attard also trains 15-1 outsider Alezzandro who will break from post 4.
 The post positions for the 2007 Queen's Plate |
Back to Horse-Races.Net main page
| Want to keep up with what's new on this site? Sign up for my weekly newsletter here. |
On the Forum:
| Search Horse-Races.Net: |