Wide-open field of 13 entered in $1 million Queen's Plate
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 3 Marine Stakes runner-up Keep Grinding is the tepid 4-1 favorite for the 162nd running of Sunday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, North America’s oldest annually run stakes.
Keep Grinding is owned by 17-year-old Joshua Attard and trained by his grandfather Tino. They picked post 8 during the two-tiered draw on Wednesday. Rafael Hernandez has the mount.
“He always tries,” Joshua Attard said. “He never gives up.”
Joshua’s father, trainer Kevin Attard, is sending out four of the 13 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, including Woodbine Oaks winner Munnyfor Ro, the 9-2 second choice from post 6. Her Oaks score was good enough to sway Attard into supplementing her to the Plate at a cost of $25,000. She was coming off a closing second to Our Flash Drive in the Grade 3 Selene heading into the nine-furlong Oaks.
“We were expecting a good performance out of her,” Attard said. “She ran a fabulous race in the Selene. I thought she’d move up off that race forwardly enough to be competitive. A mile and a quarter is going to be her trip. I’m not worried about the distance.”
Safe Conduct is the 5-1 third choice from post 1 under Irad Ortiz Jr. He was an impressive allowance winner over firm ground May 2 at Belmont Park, where he made each of his three starts. He went on to finish fourth over a sloppy track in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge, and was eighth over “good” turf in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby.
Trainer Phil Serpe theorized that if Safe Conduct dislikes soft turf and a sloppy main track, he might take a shine to the Tapeta at Woodbine because he thrives over firm turf.
Riptide Rock (6-1), who had a lackluster off-season in the United States, is stretching out off a fast six-furlong allowance triumph here on the Tapeta. He is unbeaten in two Woodbine starts, both for trainer Sid Attard.
Avoman, who won the four-horse Plate Trial Stakes for trainer Don MacRae, has been pegged at 8-1.
Haddassah (10-1) has trained up to the Plate after ending up third in the July 11 Marine.
“We’re hoping that he’ll relax early,” Kevin Attard said. “That will be the key.”
Kevin Attard-trained Harlan Estate (12-1) and Maryland-based Dance Some Mo (12-1) ran one-two while a nose apart in a July 16 allowance at Woodbine.
Graham Motion trains Dance Some Mo for fabled Sam-Son Farm.
“He’s a horse we’ve always liked a lot,” Motion said. “When he ran up there last time in the allowance race, my idea was to get him up there and get him a race over the track, and I thought he ran very well.”
Trainer Gail Cox saddles 12-1 shot Tidal Forces, the other Sam-Son runner in the lineup.