Queen's Plate: Woodbine Oaks fillies legit contenders once again
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fillies have played a prominent role throughout Queen’s Plate history, and this year’s Queen’s Plate field could see three fillies enter the starting gate after the result of the Woodbine Oaks on Aug. 15.
A total of 37 fillies have won the Plate in the 160 runnings of the race, and a filly has won the Queen’s Plate in four of the last 10 runnings. The most recent filly to win the race was Wonder Gadot in 2018, and Inglorious (2011), Lexie Lou (2014), and Holy Helena (2017) parlayed success in the Woodbine Oaks into Queen’s Plate glory.
The top three finishers from last Saturday’s Woodbine Oaks – Curlin’s Voyage, Afleet Katherine, and Merveilleux – could all be pointed toward the $1 million Queen’s Plate on Sept. 12 at Woodbine, and a case could be made for each winning the race.
Curlin’s Voyage is the most accomplished of the trio. She won her second consecutive stakes in the Woodbine Oaks after a victory in the Fury Stakes over seven furlongs on July 5, and now has four stakes wins overall, including the Ontario Lassie Stakes and Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes as a 2-year-old last season.
“She’s a very special filly,” trainer Josie Carroll said following the Woodbine Oaks win. “We knew what we had from the start when we were very bold and put her against the boys first time out in a stakes. It’s not something you do lightly. You have to think one’s special. I had some concerns this year with the way the stakes schedule played out. I knew I wasn’t going to get a two-turn race into her. It gave me some concern, but I trained her fairly hard into this race, and she just thrived on it. Good horses thrive on training.”
Carroll swept the Woodbine Oaks-Queen’s Plate double with Inglorious.
Woodbine Oaks runner-up Afleet Katherine, meanwhile, has come to hand very quickly for trainer Kevin Attard. She won her first two starts, turf sprints on July 5 and July 25, and then ran second in the Woodbine Oaks, all in a six-week span.
“She’s had a really crammed schedule,” Attard said. “She’s a lightly seasoned filly who just started racing six weeks ago. For her to run second is very exciting to see. That filly has got a lot of potential down the road.”
A half-sister to last season’s Canadian 3-year-old champion filly, Amalfi Coast, Afleet Katherine would need to be supplemented to the Queen’s Plate. Attard said the Queen’s Plate and the $250,000 Bison City Stakes, also to be run on Sept. 12, are both under consideration for her next start. The Bison City will be run over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.
Attard said he’s been pleased with the way Afleet Katherine has come out of the Woodbine Oaks.
“She’s back on the track and her energy is high,” he said. “Her appetite is good. Amongst it all, that’s been really nice to see that she’s been able to handle everything we’ve thrown at her in a good way and has come out of it in good shape.”
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Attard will have at least one filly in the Queen’s Plate field – Merveilleux, who was third in the Woodbine Oaks. Merveilleux encountered a bit of traffic trouble as she tried to rally from off of the pace in the Oaks, and Attard felt she should have been more forwardly placed early on.
“I’m more disappointed in the fact that she was as far back as she was than the trouble down the stretch,” he said. “It was unfortunate it turned out that way, but she did finish up well and galloped out really well. We’ve always felt that the mile-and-a-quarter distance is not going to be an issue for her, and hopefully things will be put together for her on Queen’s Plate Day.”
Attard added a set of blinkers for Merveilleux in the Oaks and anticipated they would remain for the Queen’s Plate.
“I like the way she’s trained,” he said. “The blinkers have actually relaxed her. I don’t want to say that they relaxed her too much in that race, but I do think she’s a better horse with them, so I’m going to continue to keep them on.”