Fields take shape for Woodbine Oaks, Plate Trial

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The $500,000 Woodbine Oaks and the $125,000 Plate Trial, two key preps for the $1 million Queen’s Plate, will be run Sunday over 1 1/8 miles on Woodbine’s Tapeta. Fields for both were becoming clear following last Sunday’s training session.

Among the probables for the Woodbine Oaks are 11 Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies led by Fury Stakes winner Enstone, who will look to give trainer Mark Casse his fourth Woodbine Oaks victory. Enstone enters off a runner-up finish to Grizzel in the Grade 3 Selene Stakes on May 21.

Three other fillies will exit the Selene and run in the Woodbine Oaks: sixth-place finisher Financial Recovery, seventh-place Cindervella, and ninth-place Ghostly Presence. A win by Financial Recovery would give trainer Catherine Day Phillips her second consecutive Woodbine Oaks victory after Neshama won the race in 2016.

Two other likely starters exit the April 30 Fury Stakes over seven furlongs: Mythical Mission, who ran third, and Ellan Vannin, who finished fifth after winning both of her starts as a 2-year-old.

Other locally based horses expected for the Woodbine Oaks include Gertie T, who won back-to-back starts to begin her 2017 campaign for trainer Norm McKnight, and Miss Adele, who won her maiden in her most recent start May 12 and is one of two horses in the field for trainer Roger Attfield.

Three American shippers are expected for the Oaks. Inflexibility and Holy Helena, recent maiden winners at Belmont Park, appear to be among the early favorites for the race, while the stakes winner Stallion Heiress figures to provide pace.

The Plate Trial for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds will feature a rematch between King and His Court and Tiz a Slam, the top two finishers from the Wando Stakes on May 7.

King and His Court shook off two subpar efforts over the winter to win the Wando in his return to Woodbine, marking his third straight stakes win over the Tapeta after victories in the Coronation Futurity and Display Stakes as a 2-year-old.

Tiz a Slam has trained forwardly since the Wando. A win in the Plate Trial with Tiz a Slam would give Attfield his seventh victory in the race and his second in the last three years, after he won it in 2015 with Danish Dynaformer.

Also expected for the Plate Trial are State of Honor, Avie’s Mesa, Guy Caballero, and Expedition.

The Plate Trial would mark State of Honor’s first start since he finished 19th in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6. State of Honor has worked twice on the Tapeta since then and will make his first start over Woodbine’s main track since he ran second to King and His Court in the Coronation Futurity last November.

Avie’s Mesa earned a career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure in an allowance here May 13 after finishing second to Grade 3 Marine Stakes runner-up Channel Maker in an allowance on turf at Keeneland on April 26.

Guy Caballero will be looking to build off a runner-up finish in an allowance over seven furlongs in his seasonal debut May 7, while Expedition is a recent maiden winner and is one of three horses in the probable Plate Trial field for Casse.

Trainer John Ross said Cool Catomine also could be entered if a maiden race scheduled for Saturday does not fill.