Get Down meets 'Ravens' in Plate Trial

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Queen's Plate contenders Get Down and Dance With Ravens will clash at nine furlongs Sunday at Woodbine in the $163,500 Plate Trial Stakes.

Get Down posted one of the most impressive efforts by a 3-year-old at the meeting when he captured a seven-furlong allowance by 8 1/2 lengths on May 8. He also won both of his 2-year-old starts in sprints, but was a nonfactor in his lone two-turn attempt, in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa in February.

Trainer Nancy Triola believes Get Down's dull Davis performance wasn't a true read of the colt's distance capabilities.

"It was a disaster," Triola said. "He missed the break because there was nobody on his head in the gate, and then he got slammed twice on the first turn. After that, he lost interest."

Get Down breezed a mile in 1:41.40 last Saturday, going the first half-mile in about 53 seconds and the last half in about 48, according to Triola, who was aboard for the work.

"I've been training him to go long," Triola said. "He's been galloping a mile and seven-eighths every day. He does pretty much whatever you want him to do. Trying to get him to relax has been our focus, because last year he seemed a bit too sharp."

Dance With Ravens, the winter-book favorite for the June 26 Plate, won the Grade 2 Grey Breeders' Cup at 2. In his first start this year, he finished third in a turf allowance at Keeneland after making a bold wide bid on the far turn.

"I thought he ran exceptionally well," said trainer Mark Frostad. "He was dead short, and we knew he would need the race, but I had to get him going or we'd never make the Plate."

Two weeks after his comeback, Dance With Ravens was a front-running winner of a relatively slow allowance at 1 1/16 miles here on May 7.

"It was a funny race," Frostad said. "I thought there was plenty of speed in there, but we ended up on the pace all the way. He doesn't have a huge turn of foot, and he was hard-pressed to stay there at the end. We wheeled him back pretty quick, because we wanted to get two more starts into him before the Plate, and he probably bounced a little. Hopefully, he'll improve off that."

Three in the Bag, second to Reverberate in a May 8 allowance at Belmont, is also in the seven-horse field. He was recently supplemented to the Plate for $15,000.