Philip My Dear gets campaign started in Queenston Stakes
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The road to the Aug. 20 King’s Plate begins in earnest Sunday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Queenston Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Trainer Kevin Attard, who won last year’s $1 million Queen’s Plate with Moira, is sending out reigning Canadian champion male 2-year-old Philip My Dear and Moon Landing.
Philip My Dear is competing for the first time since a wide third over an inside-favoring Tapeta surface in the Coronation Futurity on Nov. 6, after which he wintered in Ocala, Fla. He won three of his first four outings, all on turf, including the Cup and Saucer Stakes, to go along with a third in the Grade 1 Summer.
“Because of his success last year, there’s limited places to run,” Attard said. “This is the race we’ve been targeting. His last two works were fantastic. He was a little slow to come around and had a little virus that affected him. We got that cleared up. I think he’s in top shape.”
Moon Landing wintered with Attard at Gulfstream Park, where he was fourth in a Jan. 14 allowance. He started twice over Turfway Park’s Tapeta in March, finishing fourth in the Battaglia Memorial Stakes and a tired ninth after leading the way in the Rushaway Stakes, when competing for trainer Mike McCarthy.
“He broke from an outside post and had to show speed to cut over,” Attard said, regarding the Rushaway. “That’s not how he wants to run. I thought his first race at Turfway was good. He made a wide, premature move and just flattened out a little late. He’s a horse who really likes the Tapeta. He’s been working well.”
Kazushi Kimura will break Philip My Dear from the outside post 13. Rafael Hernandez rides first-Lasix user Moon Landing from post 1.
The speedy Poulin in O T was second in the 2022 Sovereign Award voting for champion 2-year-old. He sprinted in all six of his juvenile outings, winning the Victoria and Frost King on Tapeta and the Bull Page Stakes on the grass. The son of Reload is unraced since a narrow loss to Armstrong as the odds-on choice in the Clarendon Stakes on Dec. 9.
“He had some rehab time over the winter,” owner/trainer Steve Owens said. “They took a little flake out of his ankle. Everything went extremely well, and he was hand-walked and had turnout in a paddock for about a month. He made his way back to Woodbine, and he’s been training forwardly since then. He’s bigger and stronger, so that’s nice to see.”
Among the others entered are One Bay Hemingway and the Mark Casse-trained quartet of One for Chap, True Temper, Paramount Prince, and Gran Spirited.
One Bay Hemingway beat Ontario-sired nonwinners-of-two and nonwinners-of-three allowance types in his two appearances at the meet, earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure most recently. Sid Attard trains him for Norseman Racing Stable.
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