‘Prince’ Leads Royal Procession in King’s Plate

On paper, it appeared that Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman) had many things going for him heading into the 164th King's Plate at Woodbine. Trained by Mark Casse, who is one of only a handful of individuals who has been honored by both the U.S. and Canadian Hall of Fames, the chestnut was benefitting from the services of another Canadian stalwart in Patrick Husbands. Not to mention he is owned by Michael Langlois and Gary Barber, the latter well-known for having campaigned the likes of a trio of Classic winners–2019 Preakness hero War of Will, in addition to a pair of Queen's Plate scorers–Lexi Lou (2014) and Wonder Gadot (2018). However, despite the super-stacked street cred, the gelding was given only tepid support at 8-1 to give Casse his third victory in the oldest continuously run race in North America.

As expected, taking much of the pre-race play in the 17-horse field was GSW Kalik (Collected), trained by four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer Chad Brown. Installed the 4-1 favorite, the colt weighed in slightly ahead of third betting choice Stanley House (Army Mule). While Paramount Prince seemed to take in all the hubbub that goes hand-in-hand with the big race days, Kalik bypassed the indoor enclosure entirely and set up shop in the outside ring early, proceeding to work up a fierce sweat by the time the field made their way out to the track.

Still giving the gate crew all they could handle in the moments right before the break, the favorite wasn't in much of a hurry at the start, stationing himself toward the back early as his counterpoint, Paramount Prince, bounced to the front with relative ease. Carving out a quarter mile in :23 1/5 as longshots Velocitor (Mor Spirit) and Silent Miracle (Silent Name), followed by Casse's other runner–the filly Elysian Field–were within striking distance, the gelding continued to show the way following an honest but comfortable half-mile in :47.41. Still zipping along in front as the Woodbine Oaks winner started to turn the screws on Velocitor up the inside through three quarters in 1:11.81, Paramount Prince was given his cue from Husbands at the quarter pole, as his nearest pursuers were also set down for the final push. Given several right-handed reminders late just to remain on task, the gelding had enough left in the tank to score by 1 1/2 lengths over Elysian Field, co-owned by Barber and Team Valor International. Stanley House rallied from far back early to round out the triactor, while Velocitor came home fourth, seven lengths behind the winner. Favored Kalik never got into the mix of things, finishing 13th.

Sunday's King's Plate card yielded record handle of $18,127,726, up from the previous record of $18,005,973 generated in 2019.

“I didn't want to change anything that was already working,” offered Husbands when asked whether his instructions were to get to the front early. “But he left there running and he just did his own thing.”

Husbands also was winning his third Plate, following a score with ultimate Triple Crown winner Wando and Lexi Lou, for Casse and Barber.

He added, “I knew the first time around, that it was going to take a good horse to beat him.”

“At the end of the day, you've got to let the horses talk and don't get too cocky. I had a clean break, I let him do what he likes to do best, and he just enjoyed the running. I asked him to get over on his right lead and he was just gone. He just glides over the ground.”

Casse explained, “He often wins the race at the start. He just breaks so fast. And there was a lot of speed. He's so quick from the gate and that's where he won it. He outbroke them and I knew when he went by us the first time he was traveling well.”

“I was with Gary Barber, and we saw the half in :47 and I said, 'That's not too bad.' And that Elysian Fields, she's just so tough, she came up. But it was a dream come true.”

Bred in Ontario by Ericka Rusnak, Paramount Prince was the first horse bought at auction by Langlois and his wife Charmaine, who made the purchase through then-trainer Jamie Attard. For Attard, Paramount Prince won when getting thrown in against $40,000 maidens going six panels over Woodbine's Tapeta surface last November. Barber bought into the Ontario-bred  following his first start, however, left him with Attard for the remainder of his 2022 campaign. Sent to Casse following a third facing Ontario-breds in the Clarendon S. in December, Paramount Prince kicked off 2023 with a second to One Bay Hemmingway (Danger Bay)–who returned to win the following month–in a six-furlong optional claiming event Apr. 30.

Stepping back into stakes company for his next start, he was runner-up behind Kaukokaipuu (Mr Speaker) in Woodbine's seven-furlong Queenston S. June 11, but seemed to relish the added yardage, winning by five lengths at odds of 11-1 in his latest start in the Plate Trial S. July 23.

The gelding came into the Plate looking to become the first horse since Big Red Mike (2010) to notch the Trial-Plate double. Not Bourbon, in 2008, and Eye of the Leopard, in 2009, also recorded the double.

“When he came to us in Ocala, he was a different horse. We were shocked he was getting beat the first couple of times,” recalled Casse. “I think the key to that is he just doesn't want to run short. And he just wants to use his speed.”

 

Pedigree Notes:

With the victory, Paramount Prince becomes the ninth black-type winner for his sire, Society's Chariman. The King's Plate winner is out of SP Platinum Steel, a daughter of stakes winner Crafty Toast and a half-sister to GI Carter winner and Hill 'n' Dale stallion Army Mule (Friesan Fire).

Sunday, Woodbine
KING'S PLATE S., C$1,004,500, Woodbine, 8-20, (C), 3yo, 1 1/4m (AWT), 2:01.93, ft.
1–PARAMOUNT PRINCE, 126, g, 3, by Society's Chairman
                1st Dam: Platinum Steel (SP, $171,013), by Eddington
                2nd Dam: Crafty Toast, by Crafty Prospector
                3rd Dam: Give a Toast, by Storm Bird
(C$21,000 Ylg '21 CANSEP). O-Michael J. Langlois and Gary
Barber; B-Ericka Nadine Rusnak (ON); T-Mark E. Casse;
J-Patrick Husbands. C$600,000. Lifetime Record: 6-3-2-1,
$580,871.
2–Elysian Field, 121, f, 3, Hard Spun–Elysian, by Smart Strike.
($50,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT; $70,000 2yo '22 OBSOPN). O-Team
Valor International and Gary Barber; B-Anderson Farms Ont.
Inc. (ON); T-Mark E. Casse. C$200,000.
3–Stanley House, 126, c, 3, Army Mule–Stormy's Song, by
Unbridled's Song. ($80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 RNA Ylg
'21 FTKJUL; $120,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-John E. and Diana L. Russell; B-Elevage II, LLC & St. Elias
Stables LLC (ON); T-Michael P. De Paulo. C$100,000.
Margins: 1HF, 1HF, 4. Odds: 8.00, 4.60, 4.40.
Also Ran: Velocitor, Touch'n Ride, Enjoythesilent, Cool Kiss, Twin City, Philip My Dear, Moon Landing, Wickenheiser, Twowaycrossing, Kalik, Morstachy's, Kaukokaipuu, Silent Miracle, Midnight in Malibu. Scratched: El Cohete, Runaway Charlie.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

O-Michael J. Langlois and Gary Barber; B-Ericka Nadine Rusnak; T-Mark Casse.

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Full Field of 17 Slated for Historic King’s Plate

A total of 17 sophomores–including Woodbine Oaks heroine Elysian Field (Hard Spun) and U.S.-based Kalik (Collected)-have signed on to contest Sunday's King's Plate, the initial jewel in the OLG Canadian Triple Crown. Held at Woodbine's Trackside Clubhouse, Wednesday's King's Plate breakfast was highlighted by the post-position draw, which was co-hosted by Woodbine TV personality Jeff Bratt and Woodbine track announcer Robert Geller.

Being run for the 164th time, making it North America's oldest continually run race, the 1 1/4-mile test will be contested as the King's Plate for the first time since 1951.

Favored in the morning line at 3-1 is the Chad Brown-trained Kalik, owned by Robert LaPenta, e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Madaket Stables LLC. The partnership also campaigns Moon Landing (Nyquist), who drew post 17 for trainer Kevin Attard and is 20-1 on the morning line.

Kalik is a winner of three of six starts-all on the turf–highlighted by the June 3 GII Pennine Ridge S. at Belmont. The chestnut finished eighth in his latest start in the GI Belmont Derby July 8.

“With Chad, you know the horse will be in top condition coming into the Plate,” said jockey Kazushi Kimura, slated to ride the $200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. “To be in The King's Plate is amazing. The race has so much history. You can feel the excitement building and I hope that we can say we won the first King's Plate since 1951. I know I have a big chance with this horse.”

Drawing the rail, Stanley House (Army Mule) broke his maiden at Gulfstream in March before finishing runner-up going 8 1/2 furlongs over Woodbine's Tapeta surface in May. Back in the winner's circle facing optional claimers, he finished sixth in the July 23 Plate Trial, won by Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman). The former, installed the 4-1 second choice on the morning line, will be ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

In addition to Paramount Prince (10-1, post 13), trainer Mark Casse will also be represented by Elysian Field (8-1, post 2). Patrick Husbands will partner the former, while Sahin Civaci will be aboard the filly.

“Coming into a race like this, some horses are thriving and getting better, and that would describe her,” said Casse, who won the 2014 Plate with Lexie Lou and the 2018 running with Wonder Gadot.

Sunday's card also features a trio of stakes: the 1 1/16-mile GII Dance Smartly S. (on the E.P. Taylor turf for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up); the Catch a Glimpse S. (fillies) and Soaring Free S. (colts). Both juvenile races will be contested on the E.P. Taylor turf over 6 1/2 furlongs.

First post for Sunday is 12:25 p.m. (ET), with the featured King's Plate scheduled as Race 10 (5:39 p.m. ET). The national Plate broadcast will be televised on TSN and CTV starting at 4:30 p.m.

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Sophomore Turfers Take Centerstage at Belmont Saturday

A pair of Grade I events for 3-year-olds on grass will co-anchor a loaded 12-race program at Belmont Park Saturday.

European invader The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), a narrow winner of the G2 Dante S. May 18 and fifth-place finisher after stumbling at the start in the G1 English Derby June 3, will make the trip across the pond for trainer Andrew Balding for the GI Belmont Derby Invitational. The 7-2 morning-line favorite, drawn widest of all in post 11, will square off against 10 rivals, including GII Pennine Ridge S. one-two-three Kalik (Collected), 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) and narrow GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Silver Knott (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}); and GII American Turf S. winner Webslinger (Constitution).

“He's a high-class horse,” Balding said. “He won the (G2 Juddmonte) Royal Lodge last year and this year he won our main Derby trial at York. He ran a good race in the Derby, but we felt he didn't get the mile and a half. Obviously, the option to drop back to 10 furlongs was attractive. Hopefully, it's a good fit for him.”

A field of nine will line up in the female counterpart in the GI Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational. Trainer Graham Motion will saddle 2-1 morning-line favorite and GIII Regret S. June 3 heroine Mission of Joy (Kitten's Joy) and Irish Group 3 winner Speirling Beag (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who makes her U.S. debut following a fifth-place finish in the G3 Prix Penelope in France Apr. 1. Trainer Chad Brown will seek his seventh Belmont Oaks trophy via undefeated Hilltop S. May 19 winner Aspray (Quality Road) and GII Wonder Again S. June 11 heroine Prerequisite (Upstart).

'TDN Rising Star' and last year's runaway GIII Dwyer S. winner Charge It (Tapit), meanwhile, headlines a five-horse field in the GII Suburban S. Unbeaten sophomore fillies Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) and Dazzling Blue (Into Mischief) and GII Eight Belles S. winner Red Carpet Ready (Oscar Performance) will do battle in a fantastic renewal of the GIII Victory Ride S.

Derby Day at the Shoe…

Verifying (Justify), second in both the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. Apr. 8 and GIII Matt Winn S. June 11, will be favored to break through at the graded level in the GIII Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He dueled through a wicked early pace and paid the price, fading to finish 16th in the GI Kentucky Derby.

“He's doing really well,” trainer Brad Cox said. “I love how he came out of the Matt Winn. It will be back in 27 days, but he's a horse we felt we needed to get a race under his belt. He's run really well, just was narrowly defeated in the Matt Winn and the Blue Grass. His Derby was a throw out with the pace, going too quick too early. But he's a nice horse, he's doing well physically, looks amazing.”

The nine-horse field for the Indiana Derby also includes GIII Gotham S. winner Raise Cain (Violence), grassy Hawthorne Derby winner Act a Fool (Oscar Performance) and the highly regarded Cagliostro (Upstart), a strong second behind the talented Scotland (Good Magic) in an optional claimer at Churchill Downs June 3.

Taxed (Collected), an 11-1 upset winner of the GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico May 19, looks for her second straight win in the GIII Indiana Oaks. She'll face the Ken McPeek-trained GI Central Bank Ashland S. heroine Defining Purpose (Cross Traffic), purchased privately by Northern Farm since finishing seventh in the GI Kentucky Oaks.

Curlin Filly Headlines Delaware Handicap…

Juddmonte homebred Idiomatic (Curlin), a well-beaten second in the GII Ruffian S. at Belmont May 6 and wire-to-wire winner of the GIII Shawnee S. at Churchill June 3, is the clear cut one to beat in the GII Delaware H. The field of six also includes: Morning Matcha (Central Banker), second in last term's GI Cotillion S. and the local prep Obeah S. last time May 27; and GIII Royal Delta S. heroine Classy Edition (Classic Empire).

Graded Duo Beneath the Lights at Prairie Meadows…

Imonra (Violence) will make her stakes debut in the GIII Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows Saturday evening. The card also includes the GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. for older horses and the $250,000 Iowa Derby.

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‘This is a Beautiful Gift Box Colt’: Veinot Has High Hopes for One-Horse Fasig July Consignment

Trudy Veinot's Dreamcatcher consignment makes its second auction appearance in the Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings and, while a son of Gift Box (hip 107) is the veteran horsewoman's sole entry in the sale, she is excited about the colt's prospects in the ring Tuesday.

Veinot, a transplanted Canadian now living in Lexington, purchased the colt for $30,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

“I liked his frame,” Veinot said of the weanling's appeal. “There wasn't a lot of meat on those bones, but there was a beautiful frame. I liked the way he moved. This horse has probably the biggest walk on anything I've ever prepped in 20 years. I am hoping the buyers will see that. I am pretty sure that they will.”

Of the colt's transformation since last fall, Veinot said, “You wouldn't even recognize him. It doesn't always go that way. You buy that frame in hopes that it will all fill out in the right places. And with him, it has.”

The gray colt is out of La Boheme (Giant's Causeway), a half-sister to graded winners Electrify (Delaware Township) and Rothko (Arch).

Veinot worked as a showman for Taylor Made Sales Agency for two decades before starting her Dreamcatcher consignment with two horses at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year. But her relatively late start in horse racing was anything but certain after growing up showing horses in Canada.

“I left Canada when I was 24, almost turning 25,” Veinot recalled. “I was in Nova Scotia, married and had five businesses, and I didn't like anything I did. I was small enough. I always wanted to be a jockey. I knew a friend of a friend down in Maryland and he got me a job with Jonathan Sheppard. I packed up everything I owned and I went down to Jonathan Sheppard's farm.”

Veinot rode her first race at 30, but after five years in the saddle turned to training. She found a niche buying yearlings and selling them at the track as 2-year-olds.

“I would buy yearlings with no pedigree and I would run them at Keeneland and sell them off of the track,” she explained. “I would gate break and gallop them all on my own.”

That hands-on approach translated when she decided it was time to step back from breaking babies and transitioned to pinhooking weanlings to yearlings.

“When I had to step back from getting on those 2-year-olds, I wasn't really happy about that,” Veinot said. “To me, that was a step backwards. But I absolutely love weanling to yearlings. I break all of the babies before I bring them to the sale. And people know that I do that. I just like the one-on-one time with them. Anybody who knows me knows that I put a lot of groundwork in. All of my horses have had saddles and bridles and branches and tarps and balloons–I tie helium balloons to their backs before I get up on them. My favorite part is the groundwork and building confidence in the horse because I think it transcends onto the racetrack.”

In addition to showing at the sales for Taylor Made, Veinot sold her horses through the farm's sales consignments.

“I've partnered and sold with the Taylor Made boys for over 20 years,” Veinot said. “Taylor Made always blessed me with the privilege of going into their consignment and coming with my horses. So I was always able to show my own horses with them because I showed for them for 20 years.”

Among her pinhooking successes is Three Technique (Mr Speaker), who she purchased for $50,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale and sold the following year with Taylor Made for $180,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July sale. The 6-year-old recently added the July 1 GII John A Nerud S. to his resume.

“Three Technique was the first horse by Mr Speaker to go through the ring,” Veinot said. “I didn't even know who Mr Speaker was, but I really liked him.”

She also pinhooked Kalik (Collected), who she acquired for $80,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton October sale and resold for $200,000 at Keeneland the following September. The colt, owned by Bob LaPenta, e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Madaket Stables and trained by Chad Brown, won the June 3 GII Pennine Ridge S. and heads postward in Saturday's GI Belmont Derby.

“Chad Brown said he was his best 2-year-old last year, but he got slow going,” Veinot said of Kalik, who has now won three times from five starts. “He just won a stakes at Belmont that gave him an automatic entry into a $750,000 stakes. So I think he runs in New York before he heads to the Queen's [King's] Plate.”

The 58-year-old Veinot made the decision to go out on her own in January. In Dreamcatcher's first consignment, she sold a 2-year-old filly by Vino Rosso for $28,000 and RNA'd a daughter of Thousand Words.

“It was just time to take the leap,” Veinot said of the decision to start her own consignment. “By the time you give Keeneland 5% and [the consignor] 5%, it's $10,000 to sell your $100,000 horse. Financially this makes more sense. Truth be told, it made me a little nervous to step outside of the Taylor Made umbrella because they took care of the details, the paperwork, the entry forms. If I forgot something, they were on top of it. But, as long as I keep my ducks in a row as far as the paperwork goes, I am quite comfortable.”

While she purchased individuals with little pedigree when selling 2-year-olds off the track years ago, Veinot has found a new strategy with her weanling buys.

“That's the toughest part of the game that I've had to conform to,” she said. “I had the most beautiful Orb filly–just as one example–and nobody would buy an Orb. At that point they had all been burned by Orb and so I never got paid. So when I am looking at babies now, if I can afford the first-crop sires, I will. I can't afford the established sires, so what I will generally do is go in there and buy a first-crop sire with a smaller stud fee, like Mr Speaker and this Gift Box colt. But then I will try to buy something in that pedigree that might have a 2-year-old that could help me out next year. So I will look at all the yearlings turning two and the 2-year-olds turning three [in the weanling's pedigree] and hope to get a little lucky that way. That would be my niche, if you're buying on a budget.”

Veinot, who leases a farm off Huntertown Road, plans on keeping her operation small to continue her hands-on approach.

“I keep a really boutique bunch because I do all the work myself,” she said. “So a half-dozen is my magic number [to pinhook]. I did eight a couple of years ago and it was just too many.”

Veinot still has her trainer's license and has two horses in her stable.

“I kept a horse that I liked and had some talent and named him after my dad,” she said of You Make Me Happy (Firing Line). “He broke his maiden here at Keeneland in the fall, but I don't brag to be a trainer. I did that when I was pinhooking yearlings to 2-year-olds. I did that for 10 years and then I took a break and started doing the weanlings. When You Make Me Happy came along, I took my trainer's license back out for him. And I've kept another filly who went through that January sale, she's a filly by Thousand Words who I think has a ton of talent and I'm going to race her under my own name.”

Fasig-Tipton will host its July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale Monday at Newtown Paddocks with bidding beginning at 2 p.m. The Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings will be held Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m.

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