Coltimus Prime eyes Queen’s Plate

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Justin Nixon appears to have a serious prospect for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on July 6 at Woodbine with Coltimus Prime, who is exiting a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

Coltimus Prime wintered at Palm Beach Downs after finishing a close second here in the Dec. 8 Display Stakes but was awful when he came off the sidelines March 8 in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.

“The Tampa Bay Derby left us scratching our heads a little,” Nixon said. “I felt that he never got a hold of the racetrack. He was never comfortable. But still, after a race like that, you’re kinda worried. Down the backside in the Blue Grass, he only had one horse beat, but the way he rallied and made a nice run, we were very happy.”

Coltimus Prime, a son of the hot local sire Milwaukee Brew, is eligible for both a first-level allowance and a non-winners-of-two Ontario-sired allowance.

“He came out of the Blue Grass in good order,” Nixon said. “We’re going to see what the new book comes up with. We’ll pick out a couple of spots and hopefully get to the Plate.”

Nixon sent out Shanagarry to finish third at 40-1 last Saturday in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes, for which she got an 81 Beyer Speed Figure after leading until inside the eighth pole.

“She’s a nice filly,” Nixon said. “We let her do her thing [in the Star Shoot], and she ran dynamite. She likes to be near the front, for sure. We had tried a few things like rating her, and maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do.”

◗ The second payment for both the Queen’s Plate and the June 15 Woodbine Oaks is due May 1. Horses can by supplemented by that time if they were not originally nominated.

◗ Jockeys Katy Morrison, Sheena Ryan, and Brittany Vanden Berg have been granted a winter extension of their apprentice allowance for a period of 117 days.