ETOBICOKE, ON–Heading into the 163rd Queen's Plate, most of the pre-race talk swirled around X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables and SF Racing's Moira (Ghostzapper), and her pre-Woodbine Oaks antics that led to her ultimately running, and romping, without hind shoes. Keeping her shoes–if not entirely her composure–firmly intact prior to Sunday's Classic fixture at Woodbine, the filly appeared to sprout wings in the stretch, cruising to an eye-catching seven-length victory over the Mark Casse-trained pair of Hall of Dreams (Lemon Drop Kid) and Sir For Sure (Sligo Bay {Ire}).
“There are a lot of emotions leading up to this race,” said winning trainer Kevin Attard, who was celebrating his first Queen's Plate. “It is something that I have cherished a long time while I was growing up. I decided I wanted to be the best and I think this puts me in a special group of trainers. It's a dream come true.”
With the weather in the Toronto area flitting between sparkling to threatening in equal measure in the 48 hours leading up to the Plate, the early part of the card was greeted with a mixture of sun and clouds, albeit ample humidity. However, in the moments leading up to the race, the weather turned decidedly more menacing as a wall of black clouds loomed in the distance.
After her Oaks debacle when the filly lost a shoe and bent the other one, prompting the last-minute decision to run minus hind shoes, Attard decided to switch up the game plan this time, keeping his stable star confined to Woodbine's indoor saddling enclosure while the other 10 sophomores assumed their customary spots in the outside paddock under the sweeping willows. Removed from much of the hoopla of a big race day, Moira still became slightly edgy while having a tongue tie fitted and bit later while stepping onto the track.
“She saddled really well. And I didn't want to put on the [tongue tie] at the barn because it's such a long post parade and it drags out and it was hot weather, so I decided to do it in the paddock,” Attard explained. “When I school her, she's been great. But today she was being a little bit difficult, the crowd got her a little wound up. We got that on her, and I could see when she was walking out to the track that she was getting a little bit edgy. She knew today was a different day. But the beauty of it is, considering all of her [antics], she still stays mentally focused and she knows that she still has a job to do. That's what defines her as a good horse.”
Breaking from post 8, Moira was quickly tucked in by Rafael Hernandez, who also had the option to ride narrowly favored GIII Marine S. winner Rondure (Oxbow), however, opted to stay with the 9-5 filly. She drafted inside horses near the back of the field, rating kindly as 14-1 chance The Minskter (English Channel) led the way over Ironstone (Mr Speaker) and Sir For Sure through a sensible :23.75 quarter. Still moving comfortably, about seven lengths behind the pace, through a half in :47.58, the $150,000 Keeneland September graduate started to pick up the tempo leaving the backstretch but appeared to hit another gear approaching the quarter pole. As Ironstone took a slight edge over The Minskter, Moira was gobbling up real estate on the outside, taking control straightening for home. From there, it was just a question of how far as the filly sprinted clear. While receiving several right-handed reminders from Hernandez in the stretch, she strolled home the easiest of winners, galloping out with as much zest and authority as she had in the body of the race.
“It's unbelievable,” said Hernandez, who teamed with fellow Adena Springs product Shaman Ghost (Ghostzapper) to win the 2015 Plate. “You know, with good horses, you can get out of trouble so quick and always get a second, or third gear like her. Sit off, save ground, and when you want to get out of the horses in front of you, you just move out, and she gave me everything. She gave me another gear, and when we turned for home, she was unbelievable. She's something else. She is so special.”
Hernandez, emotional after the win, gave tribute to his family, headed by his late grandmother.
“This win is for her,” he said. “My whole my family enjoyed the moment. It's unbelievable for me, because this is home. [Canada] is home now and to be the first one for Kevin, it makes it so special.”
After 10 previous tries, Attard, who finished third with H C Holiday in 2021, recorded his best finish previously with Alezzandro, runner-up in the 2007 renewal. Attard is the son of longtime Woodbine horseman Tino Attard, and the nephew of Sid Attard, who saddled Shamateur (Shaman Ghost) in this year's Plate.
“Being in this business, the amount of time I spend at the barn, my family sacrifices a lot.” Attard admitted. “For them to be there and to share in that moment, it means a lot.”
Simmering with the raw emotion of the moment, he added, “My dad put me in this position. He taught me everything I know. He sacrificed part of his career to put me in a position to succeed, he gave up part of his business and started taking a back seat to me, so I can't thank him enough. I love him so much. I wouldn't be here with him obviously.”
With the win, Moira became the eighth filly to notch the Oaks-Plate double, joining the likes of Dance Smartly, Flaming Page, Holy Helena, Inglorious and Lexie Lou.
Making of Moira
The Attard team showed their hand early when deciding to debut the filly in the 1 1/16-mile Princess Elizabeth S. at Woodbine last October, and she obliged with an emphatic 4 1/4-length score at 4-1. No secret the next time at even-money odds, Moira came up a half-length short to eventual Sovereign winner Mrs. Barbara (Bodemeister) over a rain-logged surface in the GIII Mazarine S., and concluded the season among nominees for a divisional championship. Dusted off for her 3-year-old season, she came from off the pace to annex the seven-furlong Fury S. June 11 before blowing the doors off in the July 24 Woodbine Oaks over nine panels.
“We were getting her ready in the spring, and we were having difficulty getting her ready for her first race at two turns, so we decided the Fury was going to be her first race back,” recalled Attard. “I talked to [co-owner] Donato [Lanni] and told him I'd like to run her in the Fury and sit on her until the Oaks. I would have her ready for the Oaks and that would give us four weeks until the Plate. It'll be the third race off the shelf and she will be a fresh horse.”
Now a winner of the first leg in Canada's Triple Crown, the second jewel–the Sept. 13 Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie–beckons.
“I think she's an improving filly,” he said. “I don't think we've reached the bottom of her yet.”
“Honestly, we have not discussed past this race. We'll enjoy this money and we'll sit down and decide what's next.”
He continued, “As a local trainer, obviously I'd love to put my name down beside a Triple Crown horse if I could. But there are a lot of people involved, so we'll have to discuss it, but to have a Triple Crown horse would be special.”
'X' Marks the Spot
The ownership group behind the Queen's Plate winner, while diverse, holds as much Canadian flavor as Moira herself. Stewarding the partnership is Donato Lanni, very well known in racing circles south of the border. As one of the principal buyers behind the powerhouse arsenal that often find their way into Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's barn, Lanni, a Montreal native, came up with the idea to unite a group of Canadian-based friends and form X-Men Racing. Also brought into the fold were other household names in U.S. racing–Madaket Stables and SF Racing–who are part of the Classic colt-focused partnership Lanni buys for nicknamed The Avengers.
“We put a fund together and we bought a dozen horses and she was one of them,” explained Lanni, who fielded a congratulatory phone call from Baffert in the moments leading up to meeting the press. “They're all guys that are in the horse business, some of them in the Standardbred business. But what they all have in common, besides being friends with me, is that they're all lucky. They have won many of the biggest races in harness racing, every major Standardbred race. They've been very lucky guys. So, I decided to put together guys that I like, and they had to be lucky.
“She stayed at Margaux Farm, in Kentucky over the winter. We took our time, we didn't rush her, never thought we'd be here today. But when you buy them, that's what you dream about.
“She is an unassuming filly. You would never look at her and think she's a freak, but she's got gears. She just takes off.
“We bought her during a COVID year, so there was really nobody there to buy Canadian breds. I didn't see anybody else really buying those, except maybe Mark Casse who would buy them. So we really got lucky with the price.”
Pedigree Notes:
Moira, who is one of 203 black-type winners for Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, is named after Catherine O'Hara's quirky character on the hit show Schitt's Creek.
Lanni explained, “[My wife] likes the character on Schitt's Creek, Moira Rose, but we never thought after we named her that she was going to be a bitch. And she fits the character.”
The $150,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase is out of two-time Gulfstream Park stakes winner and GSP Devine Aida, who is also responsible for multiple stakes-winning Jungle Cry (Animal Kingdom). Devine Aida is also responsible for an unraced 2-year-old full-brother to Moira named Runaway Charlie and Sir Prancealot (Ire) colt foaled earlier this season. She was bred back to Constitution.
Sunday, Woodbine, Canada
QUEEN'S PLATE S., C$1,001,200, Woodbine, 8-21, (C), 3yo,
1 1/4m (AWT), 2:01.48 (NTR), ft.
1–MOIRA, 121, f, 3, by Ghostzapper
             1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by
                             Unbridled's Song
             2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
             3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables
LLC and SF Racing LLC; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard;
J-Rafael Manuel Hernandez. C$600,000. Lifetime Record: GSP,
5-4-1-0, $902,128. *1/2 to Jungle Cry (Animal Kingdom), SW,
$114,340.
2–Hall of Dreams, 126, g, 3, Lemon Drop Kid–Hallnor, by Horse
Chestnut (Saf). ($27,000 RNA Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Gary Barber,
Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Leonard Schleifer; B-Joey
Gee Thoroughbreds (ON); T-Mark E. Casse. C$200,000.
3–Sir for Sure, 126, g, 3, Sligo Bay (Ire)–Serena's Rose, by My
Way Only. O-Heste Sport Inc.; B-Norse Ridge Farms (ON);
T-Mark E. Casse. C$100,000.
Margins: 7, 2, 1HF. Odds: 1.80, 16.65, 17.10.
Also Ran: Ironstone, Dancin in Da'nile, Rondure, Hunt Master, Duke of Love, The Minkster, Causin' Mayhem, Shamateur.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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