King’s Plate 2024: Caitlinhergrtness rallies past My Boy Prince to spring upset

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Basketball star Caitlin Clark should be proud of her namesake Caitlinhergrtness’s upset score over the boys in the $1 million King’s Plate on Friday at Woodbine as she became the 39th filly to win the Canadian classic.

Caitlinhergrtness collared 3-5 favorite My Boy Prince in deep stretch to take the 165th running of the 1 1/4-mile Tapeta event by three-quarters of a length, giving jockey Rafael Hernandez his third Plate victory. She paid $20.70.

Essex Serpent set quick fractions of 23.74 seconds, 47.23, and 1:11.60 before his tracking stablemate My Boy Prince assumed command midway on the far turn. Caitlinhergrtness raced two wide in a stalking position before taking dead aim at My Boy Prince in the stretch, and she hit the front at the sixteenth pole before completing the distance in 2:03.45.

“The pace was hot, but she got on the bridle and she got pressure on the outside,” Hernandez said. “I tried to get her as relaxed as I could. When I pulled the trigger, she gave me everything down the lane.”

Midnight Mascot rallied for third. He was followed by Pierre, Jokestar, Vitality, Thor’s Cause, No More Options, Rafaroo, Essex Serpent, Friendly Ghost, and Roar of the Crowd.

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Caitlinhergrtness gave trainer Kevin Attard his second Plate victory after winning in 2022 with Moira, who was ridden by Hernandez. Caitlinhergrtness was coming off a narrow loss in the Woodbine Oaks, which was two weeks after she won an allowance on turf in her first start for Attard, who got her off trainer Todd Pletcher earlier this summer.

“She’s obviously all class and all racehorse,” Attard said. “She handled everything really well. She withstood everything we’ve thrown at her. We gave her a little time after the Oaks to see how she came out of the race, and she didn’t show any signs of fatigue. She had the 10-hole that day. She had a bit of a wide trip and was a little closer to the pace than we really wanted to be. Today, things set up a lot better. I was happy with where he positioned her the whole way around. At the quarter pole, I knew we had a shot.”

Caitlinhergrtness earned $600,000 in her first stakes win for the partnership of Siena Farm and WinStar Farm. The $375,000 2-year-old purchase was bred in Ontario by Jesse Korona.

Attard was non-committal whether the daughter of Omaha Beach will run back in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Sept. 10 Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie. She was not originally nominated to the Plate and was supplemented to the race for $25,000.

The King’s Plate was postponed from last Saturday, when that card was canceled after the fifth race following torrential rainfall that created unsafe track conditions.

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