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Queen’s Plate Generates Third-Highest Handle in History

Saturday’s live program at Woodbine, featuring the coronavirus-delayed Queen’s Plate, generated betting turnover of $14,532,678, nearly $3.5 million of that on the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown alone. The handle ranks as the third-highest in the history of the race.

“While this year’s Queen’s Plate might be remembered for not having fans in the stands, I would much rather it be remembered for the collective efforts of so many people that allowed this race to be run and its storied history continued to be written,” said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “On behalf of Woodbine, a sincere thank you to our staff, partners and the entire horse racing community for everything they did make this day possible. Over the past several months, we have certainly proved that we are stronger together and this historic handle is surely representative of that.”

Wagering wrapped up on this year’s Plate program with a Jackpot Hi-5 mandatory payout in the 13th race finale. The Jackpot Hi-5 pool included a carryover of $211,780.52, with $773,571 in new money wagered. With 4-1 favourite Guestimation holding off 9-2 second choice Giant Critic in a win photo and leading a 6-4-13-12-11 top five finish order, winning horseplayers received a return of $10,080.19 for a 20-cent ticket.

The Queen’s Plate undercard also featured the GII Canadian S., won in an upset by Rideforthecause (Candy Ride {Arg}), the Bison City S., the Ruling Angel S. and the King Corrie S.

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A ‘Storied History Continued’: $14.5 Million Wagered On 161st Queen’s Plate Program

Mighty Heart's dominant performance in the 161st running of the Queen's Plate highlighted a day of racing that produced the third highest wagering handle in its storied history.

The 13-race card generated a total of $14,532,678, including $3,494,496 on The Queen's Plate race that saw one-eyed Mighty Heart live up to his name, defeating his 13 rivals after going off at 13-1.

“While this year's Queen's Plate might be remembered for not having fans in the stands, I would much rather it be remembered for the collective efforts of so many people that allowed this race to be run and its storied history continued to be written,” said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “On behalf of Woodbine, a sincere thank you to our staff, partners and the entire horse racing community for everything they did make this day possible. Over the past several months we have certainly proved that we are stronger together and this historic handle is surely representative of that.”

Other highlights on the day included impressive performances by Bison City Stakes winner Mizzen Beau at odds of 8-1 and Grade 2 Canadian Stakes champion Rideforthecause in a 22-1 upset.

Wagering wrapped up on this year's Plate program with a Jackpot Hi-5 mandatory payout in the 13th race finale. The Jackpot Hi-5 pool included a carryover of $211,780.52, with $773,571 in new money wagered. With 4-1 favorite Guestimation holding off 9-2 second choice Giant Critic in a win photo and leading a 6-4-13-12-11 top five finish order, winning horseplayers received a return of $10,080.19 for a 20-cent ticket.

The 2020 Queen's Plate was run without the general public in attendance

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Records At Hokkaido Summer Sale

In a unique year where the Japanese yearling sale calendar has seen some reshuffling, the Hokkaido Summer Sale from Aug. 25 to 28 returned significant gains, especially across the first two days.

With a clearance rate of 77%, up from 71.8% last year, the sale overall saw healthy gains across the board. It set a new gross record of ¥5,721,870,000 ($53,901,091/£42,126,688/€45,495,755), a 15.9% increase from 2019. The average rose 22.7% to ¥6,935,600 ($65,334/£51,062/€55,146) while the median saw a 21.3% increase to ¥5,500,000 ($51,811/£40,492/€43,730), both records for this sale despite there being over 100 fewer horses offered than in 2019.

The sale topper came on day two of the sale when Hidaka Seaside Farm claimed Hip 828, a Heart’s Cry (Jpn) colt out of Nanyo Tiara (Jpn), for ¥52,800,000 ($497,385/£388,734/€419,823). The highest-priced filly of the sale was also sold on day two: Hip 1180, by Epiphaneia (Jpn) out of Pebble Garden (Jpn), bought by Taihei Bokujo for ¥26,400,000 ($248,692/£194,367/€209,911). Thirty-six different lots sold for over ¥10,000,000 and seven sold for over ¥20,000,000.

Young stallions performed exceedingly well in the Summer Sale this year with 32 lots by Asia Express averaging ¥6,630,937 ($62,464/£48,819/€52,723). Copano Rickey (Jpn), represented by his first crop here, sold 30 lots that averaged ¥6,185,666 ($58,270/£45,541/€49,183). The first crop of Satono Aladdin (Jpn) also made waves with an average of ¥9,020,000 ($84,970/£66,408/€71,719). Duramente (Jpn) and Epiphaneia (Jpn), both with well-performing crops on the track already, sold 12 and 11 lots respectively. Duramente averaged ¥13,649,166 ($128,577/£100,490/€108,527) while Group 1 sire Epiphaneia averaged ¥14,850,000 ($139,889/£109,331/€118,075).

One of the stars of the established sire ranks was Sinister Minister. While anything but a young sire, the 17-year-old sold 27 lots averaging a very strong ¥10,413,333 ($98,095/£76,667/€82,798). Year after year, he has proven to be a reliable stallion producing good-looking yearlings and a solid stream of dirt winners.

It seems the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to impact the internal workings of the Japanese Thoroughbred industry to any severe extent, though every precaution possible was taken to conduct the sale safely for all those in attendance. The Hokkaido sale season will continue on Sept. 22 with the three-day Hokkaido September Sale in Shizunai.

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Half Sis to Constitution First to Seven Figs at KEESEP

A Medaglia d’Oro half-sister to leading second-crop sire and MGISW Constitution (Tapit) was the first to reach the seven-figure threshold during Sunday’s opening session of the Keeneland September sale when garnering a top bid of $1.1 million from Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm. Consigned by Denali Stud, Agent LIX as hip 58, the Mar. 21 foal was bred in a partnership between Bridlewood Farm and Don Alberto Corp. The powerful co-breeders paid a sale-topping $3.5 million for group-placed dam Baffled (Distorted Humor) in foal to Tapit at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Don Alberto subsequently bought out Bridlewood for $1.8 million while Baffled was carrying a full brother to hip 58 at last year’s renewal of that same sale.

“It was a little over; it was about what we expected, though,” said Pope’s bloodstock advisor Tod Quast. “It was a little more than we wanted to spend, but you are not going to get a bargain on a filly of that quality, even in this sale right now. We were super happy with her physical. We think she is a racehorse, but obviously she will be a broodmare later… [Pope] is a commercial breeder, but we race too and we are happy to have a good physical to race and when you have the pedigree side to go with it, it is a win-win.”

By Sunday, Whisper Hill had already sent another well-pedigreed filly back home–Pope made the decision to scratch hip 400, the first foal out of champion Songbird by the late superstar Arrogate. She paid $9.5 million for the mare.

“We didn’t really have a good Fasig sale,” Quast noted. “We love this filly and compare her to Songbird, so we just thought why sell her? She is already back in Ocala.”

Hip 58 is also a half to English Group 2 winner Boynton (More Than Ready) and American dirt GSW Jacaranda (Congrats). She hails from the deep female family of highest-level winners like Emcee and Awesome Humor.

“This filly was bred in partnership with Bridlewood,” noted Don Alberto’s Fernando Diaz-Valdes. “We have some foals out of her [together], including a filly who is at the farm. We’re very excited. She did what we wanted her to.”

Benvenutta, the 3-year-old Tapit filly who Baffled was carrying when Bridlewood and Don Alberto made their big buy, remains unraced and last breezed in October of 2019. Baffled’s 2-year-old Tapit colt Constitutional Law worked on Saturday for trainer Todd Pletcher (5f, 1:02.21, 16/30 over the Belmont training track). Baffled produced a full-brother to hip 58 this year and is carrying a Curlin filly.

Denali’s Conrad Bandoroff talks about the filly and the sale below.

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