Gierkink: How I'll play the 2018 Queen's Plate card

The spectacular 13-race Queen’s Plate card begins with a one-mile turf route that combines Ontario-sired allowance types with $40,000 claimers. My homebred, Kadley, is dropping off a charging third in an open, first-level allowance. She should be closing effectively from far back in her third start of the season.

At a minimum of 4-1, Kadley is worth a win bet. I will single her in the pick three, using “all” in the second, a maiden special dash for 2-year-olds, and then keying Ride a Comet in the third, the Charlie Barley Stakes. Ride a Comet is unbeaten on the grass and seems marginally best among the four Mark Casse entrants in the seven-horse field.

Holy Helena, last year’s Queen’s Plate winner, is a vulnerable favorite in the eighth, the Grade 2, 1 1/4-mile Dance Smartly. She went to the farm after her first loss on turf June 8 in the Grade 2 New York at Belmont. This engagement is something of an afterthought for her since she wasn’t originally nominated.

Inflexibility is the one to beat off a last-out second in the Grade 3 Beaugay to A Raving Beauty, who subsequently won the Grade 1 Just a Game. Inflexibility, Woodbine’s 1 1/4-mile course record holder, is a square 4-1 on the line. I also like the 10-1 outsider Bletchley, who mounted a furious rally from off slow splits to finish a close second in her local debut in the Grade 2 Nassau going a mile on June 2.

The horses I would use in the horizontal wagers in the 10th, the $1 million Queen’s Plate, are longshots Cooler Mike and Neepawa, along with Telekinesis and Dixie Moon.

A first-timer who merits consideration in the 13th is Candycreet, a son of the high-percentage debut/turf sire Twirling Candy. He has worked decently and is reasonably spotted in the $25,000 maiden sprint on the grass. Leading rider Rafael Hernandez has the mount, a positive sign.

Other live longshots on the card are Tishina in the 11th and Yangtze Delta in the 12th.

The fast-working comebacker Maxixe may be lower than her 6-1 morning-line quote in the fifth, for older maidens, in her first start for the high-percentage Jim Ensom barn.

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