Hollinger tops Queen's Plate book

Hollinger, undefeated in four starts and Canada's champion 2-year-old of 2009, has been made the 5-2 favorite in the annual Queen's Plate winter book.

The hypothetical exercise, compiled for the first time by Adam Hickman of Woodbine's media communications department, assigned odds to the 100 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds nominated to the $1 million Queen's Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race that will be run at Woodbine on July 4.

Hollinger, owned and bred by Bob Harvey and Al Wortzman, swept Woodbine's top two races for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds, the Cup and Saucer over 1 1/16 miles on turf and the Coronation Futurity over 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Hollinger currently is at Payson Park in Florida.

Hotep and Giant's Tomb, both owned and bred by Sam-Son Farm and trained by Mark Frostad, are next in the line at 7-2 and 5-1, respectively.

A full brother to last year's Queen's Plate winner, Eye of the Leopard, Hotep won a first-level allowance over a mile and 40 yards at the Fair Grounds this winter before finishing up the track in the 1 1/16-mile Risen Star.

Giant's Tomb also is in New Orleans and is coming off a close second-place finish in a first-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles.

Ghost Fleet, a winner of two sprint stakes and a close fourth in the Coronation Futurity, is the fourth choice at 8-1 with D's Wando, who third in the Coronation, rounding out the top five at 10-1.

For current nominees to remain eligible for the Queen's Plate a nomination payment of $1,500 is due on May 1. Late nominations can be made by that date at a cost of $5,000.