You would think that in the days leading up to the 150th Queen’s Plate, I would be blogging a lot, but man, this has been avery busy week for me.
On Monday, I attended the Queen’s Plate Barbecue. This might be the 30th of these I’ve gone to. I’ve got videotape of me at a QP BBQ older than some of the jockeys in this race. Actually that’s true. One of the first people I ran into Monday was white-hot jockey Tyler Pizarro who is this month’s Jockey of the Month in Down The Stretch, Canada’s most interesting and informative horse racing newspaper. Pizarro is only 23 and I believe my first Plate Barbecue was 1977. So do the math.
On Tuesday, I interviewed our Lieutenant Governor, His Honour David Onley. This is for a page in the Down The Stretch. David will be representing the Queen at this year’s Plate and normally I’m not a huge fan of the pomp and ceremony ( What do you mean post time will be 20 minutes late because of the Musical Ride?), but the Lieutenant Governor and I go back many years as reporters with City-TV. David Onley’s story is quite the amazing narrative - he suffered from polio as a child - and even though he walks with great difficulty, he has charted his career from radio through some brilliant stuff as science and tech reporter for City-Tv to being named the province’s L-G. In that capacity, David is making some remarkable statements about accessibility. He told me on Tuesday that one of his greatest thrills in the first two years as Lieutenant Governor was when he was called by Foreign Affairs and asked to lead our contingent at the Paralympics in Beijing. For me, it will be very exciting to see him being driven down the stretch in that Bentley.
Wednesday was wet and miserable which meant the annual Queen’s Plate media golf tournament at Royak Woodbine was a bit of an ordeal. I hit three good shots and our team was far off the leader board. But we were fed well. Woodbine’s Glen Crouter knows how to handle a room full of rapacious reporters.
At the draw for post positions yesterday, the fast filly Milwaukee Appeal drew # 4 and she will likely be the post-time favourite and why not. She ran the mile and an 8th of the Canadian Oaks two seconds faster than the colt Eye of the Leopard ran the Plate Trial the week before. The boys have one advantage in that they have had the extra week off. Tasy Temptation second to Milwaukee Appeal in the Oaks leaves from post 11 and has Patrick Husbands aboard. Tasty Temptation was favoured in the Oaks but had a horrible start, then worked her way back into the race to finish second. She will be dangerous, assuming an untroubled trip which is kind of like assuming honest politicians.
Of the colts, even though I’d love to see Eurico Rosa da Silva win a Plate, I’ll take a stand against Eye of the Leopard. I’m scared of both fillies and will use them liberally in my exactors, but I’m shopping for a price and I’ll get it with Rapid Release and Active Duty. The former is trained by Roger Attfield and will be ridden by Jono Jones - that’s the same combination that took the Plate last year with Not Bourbon. Rapid Release was third in the Plate Trial just ahead of Active Duty who is trained by Mark Casse and will be ridden by Corey Fraser. I always take a look at the horses that finish second, third and fourth in the lead-up races because it’s always about the horse that peaks at the right time.
And let’s give Woodbine their props for pouring $150,000 into the Pick six on Sunday. They’re going to do this for several Sundays in a row and the smart bettors understand what a good deal this is. With a free $150,000 in the Pick Six, there is a great opportunity for a life-changing payoff that will come at profoundly lower odds than any major prize in 649. The idea from Woodbine’s point of view is to attract attention from the players in the U.S. and to give the heavy hitters a real reason to push their bets in with both fists. Considering the big crowd on Sunday and the exposure in simulcast betting at most tracks in the United States, this pool should grow to close to half a million .
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