Wonder Gadot puts everything together to win Queen's Plate
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - After three straight runner-up finishes, Wonder Gadot got back to the winner’s circle on Saturday at Woodbine, defeating males to win the 159th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate under jockey John Velazquez.
Adding blinkers for the first time in her career, Wonder Gadot was in range early along the outside, as stablemate Telekinesis set the pace in the 1 ¼-mile Tapeta race. Telekinesis was pressured by Chiefswood Stable runners Neepawa and Rose’s Vision, through opening fractions of 23.12 seconds for the opening quarter and 46.82 seconds for the opening half-mile.
Wonder Gadot made a four-wide move on the turn, and got to the front with authority, drawing away to win by 4 ¾ lengths in 2:02.26. Aheadbyacentury rallied for second, while Cooler Mike finished third in the field of 16 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Wonder Gadot paid $6.40 to win.
“She was going well the whole way,” said Velazquez, who recorded his first Queen’s Plate win. “We broke well, got a good position. By the three-eighths pole there were two horses in front of her and I got to them pretty easily. When I asked her down the lane she responded really well. I was very happy.”
Velazquez said he believed adding blinkers played a part in the victory.
“She had been fighting every race and every battle,” he said. “She was coming second and third but running her eyeballs out. I think the blinkers got her to pay more attention and do her job.”
Trainer Mark Casse won his second Queen’s Plate, as did owner Gary Barber. Casse and Barber combined to win the 2014 Queen’s Plate with another filly, Lexie Lou.
Wonder Gadot had finished second last out in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Casse described the Queen’s Plate victory as special.
“Her Kentucky Oaks, it was disappointing to lose,” he said. “She’s just been so unlucky, but she is so tough. She reminds me a lot of Lexie Lou, even though she weighs 200 pounds more than Lexie did. Lexie just thrived on running. There’s horses that will just run and run and run, and luckily this is one of them.”
Luis Contreras felt he could have been closer on Aheadbyacentury without a bit of trouble as he made his move.
“I had a great trip,” he said. “My horse broke okay and I saved a bit of ground. At the half-mile, I was ready to make my move and the horse in front of me started to drop back and bothered me a little. I moved outside and let him re-break and he was fine. The winner was very impressive, but it would have been very close if nothing had happened on the backstretch.”
Bred by Anderson Farms, Wonder Gadot became the ninth filly since 1956 to win the Queen’s Plate. She banked $600,000 in the victory to bring her career earnings to $1.4 million.