The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest
Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of for a maximum of 17 three-year-old
Thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer at
Woodbine Racetrack in
Etobicoke, Ontario. It is the first race in the
Canadian Triple Crown.
The King's Plate has typically been held in June or July, but in 2020 the race was postponed to September due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
Woodbine then elected to run the 2021 and 2022 editions of the race in August.
Historically, the race has been named in honour of the reigning
monarch. The
Woodbine Entertainment Group, which owns and operates the event, announced in December 2022 the race will again be renamed the King's Plate as a result of the September 2022 accession of King
Charles III.
History
In 1859, when
Canada West was still a colony of Britain, the then-president of the Toronto Turf Club, Sir
Casimir Gzowski, petitioned
Queen Victoria to grant a plate for a new race in the territory. Upon royal assent, the first Queen's Plate was run on June 27, 1860, at the
Carleton racetrack
The Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the West Toronto Diamond, a junction of four railway lines in the area. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own fed ...
in
Toronto, with the prize of "a plate to the value of 50
guineas". Despite the name of the race, the winning owner is presented with a gold cup rather than a plate.
Originally, the race was restricted to three-year-olds bred in Canada that had never won a stakes race. The race was originally run in heats, with a horse having to win two heats to be declared the winner. Over the years, the race conditions have evolved. Heat racing was discontinued in 1879, and the race was opened to stakes winners around the same time (some early records are incomplete). For many years, the race was open to older horses and in the early 1900s was even open to two-year-olds. The race is currently restricted to three-year-olds foaled in Canada. The owner must pay a nomination fee ($500 in 2018) in February, a second subscription fee ($1,500 in 2018) in May and a final entry fee ($10,000) in prior to the race.
]
The first four renewals were run at Carleton racetrack. After that, the Queen's Plate became a "movable feast", with politicians from all over modern-day Ontario vying to host the race in their constituency. Fifteen different race tracks hosted the race over the next two decades, with distances varying from one to two miles.
In 1883, the race moved to
Old Woodbine Race Course, Old Woodbine, located in eastern Toronto along Lake Ontario. The race continued to be held at Old Woodbine until that track was replaced by "New"
Woodbine in northern Toronto in 1956. The race has been run at Woodbine ever since. In 2006, Woodbine changed the track surface for the main track from natural dirt to a synthetic surface known as Polytrack. In 2016, the surface was changed to Tapeta.
Because of the change in racing surfaces, Woodbine maintains several sets of track and stakes records. The fastest time for the race on the original dirt surface at the current distance is 2:01 4/5, set by
Kinghaven Farms
Kinghaven Farms is a horse racing stable that was founded in 1967 by Donald G. "Bud" Willmot. Located in King City, Ontario, north of Toronto, the success of the stable would see it expand to the United States with the acquisition of a farm and ...
'
Izvestia in 1990. The current stakes record (the fastest all-time) is 2:01.48, set by
Moira in 2022 on Tapeta.
In 1902, the year after Victoria's death, the race became the King's Plate, after her successor,
Edward VII. It became the Queen's Plate again during the reign of
Elizabeth II (1952–2022). In 2022, it reverted to the King's Plate upon the accession of
Charles III.
Horses owned by
Windfields Farm have won the Plate eleven times, but the most successful was the stable owned by
Joseph E. Seagram
Joseph Emm Seagram (April 15, 1841 – August 18, 1919) was a Canadians, Canadian Distilled beverage, distillery founder, politician, philanthropist, and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses.
Early life
Joseph Seagram was born April 15, 1841 at ...
, a prominent
distiller from
Waterloo, Ontario. Seagram's stable won the Plate on twenty occasions between 1891 and 1935 including eight times in a row between 1891 and 1898, and ten times in eleven years from 1891 to 1901.
At the 1925 King's Plate,
W. A. Hewitt and his son
Foster Hewitt called the first horse race broadcast on radio.
In 1964,
Northern Dancer, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
, also won the Queen's Plate in his final race.
In 2006,
Josie Carroll became the first woman
trainer to win the Queen's Plate. The following year,
Emma-Jayne Wilson became the first female
jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...
to win the race.
The 2004-2013 Plate winners had little success in their subsequent racing careers. This compares unfavourably to the 1990s when a number of Plate winners had considerable success thereafter, including
With Approval,
Izvestia,
Dance Smartly and
Awesome Again. The more recent Queen's Plate winners have also been successful, including
Lexie Lou (who became a multiple graded stakes winner in Canada and the US after winning the Plate in 2014) and
Shaman Ghost (a Grade I winner in America after winning the Plate in 2015).
Nick Eaves, former President and CEO of
Woodbine Entertainment Group, announced during the 2012 Queen's Plate post position draw that Woodbine Racetrack might be forced to close in April 2013 due to the cancellation of Slots at Racetrack program partnerships between Ontario's racetracks and the
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Eaves said that if Woodbine is not open, "there won't be a Queen's Plate." A new funding agreement was put in place in March 2013, which ensured the continuation of horse racing at Woodbine.
38 fillies have won the Plate, beginning with Brunette in 1864. The 2017 running was won by filly Holy Helena, while the 2018 running was won by Wonder Gadot. Two chestnut fillies both by the name of Wild Rose have won the Queen's Plate, in 1867 and 1886. They were the daughter and great-great-grand-daughter respectively of Yellow Rose, who also produced the first Queen's Plate winner Don Juan.
The latest filly to win the Queen's Plate was Moira in 2022, whose final time of 2:01.48 established an all-time speed record.
[
The race has been held at a variety of distances:]
* 1860–1867: heats
* 1868–1870:
* 1871: miles (2.82 km)
* 1872–1886: miles (2.4 km)
* 1887–1923: miles (2.01 km)
* 1924–1956: miles (1.811 km)
* 1957-: miles (2.01 km)
Royal patronage
As King of Canada, Charles III is patron of the event. Various other members of the Canadian Royal Family have been in attendance through the years, beginning with the Duke of Argyll and his wife, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, in 1881, when the Duke was serving as Governor General of Canada and the couple was touring Ontario. Elizabeth II's fourth and final visit to the race was in early July 2010.
Records
Stakes Record
* Dirt – Izvestia — 2:01 (1990)
* Synthetic dirt - Moira – 2.01.48 (2022)
Winningest Jockeys:
* 4 – Avelino Gomez (1957, 1960, 1966, 1969)
* 4 – Sandy Hawley (1970, 1971, 1975, 1978)
* 4 – Robin Platts (1972, 1974, 1977, 1984)
Winningest Trainers:
* 8 – Harry Giddings Jr. (1911, 1913, 1914, 1920, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1942)
* 8 – Roger Attfield (1976, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2008)
* 6 – John R. Walker (1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896)
* 6 – Gordon J. "Pete" McCann (1940, 1951, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1963)
* 6 - William H. Bringloe
William Henry Bringloe (July 15, 1875 – December 30, 1937) was a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who was the 1927 Canadian and United States Champion trainer by earnings and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
Background
A nativ ...
(1923, 1926, 1928, 1933, 1936, 1937)
Winningest Owners:
* 20 - Seagram Stables Seagram Stables was a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing operation founded in 1888 by the wealthy distiller, Joseph E. Seagram. Located in Seagram's hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, the stables and large training facilities were built along Lincoln Ro ...
* 11 - Windfields Farm
Winners
File:Strait_Of_Dover_Queens2012.jpg, 2012 winner,
Strait of Dover
File:Midnight_Aria_Plate2013.jpg, 2013 winner,
Midnight Aria
File:LexieLouQueensPlate2014.jpg, 2014 winner,
Lexie Lou
File:ShamanGhostQueensPlate2015.jpg, 2015 winner,
Shaman Ghost
File:SirDudleyDigges Horse.jpg, 2016 winner,
Sir Dudley Digges
File:HolyHelenaHorse.jpg, 2017 winner,
Holy Helena
File:WonderGadot_QP18.jpg, 2018 winner,
Wonder Gadot
Wonder Gadot (foaled May 22, 2015) is a Canadian Thoroughbred Horse racing, racehorse best known for winning the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, Canadian Triple Cro ...
File:OneBadBoy QP19.jpg, 2019 winner,
One Bad Boy
File:SafeConduct_QP2021.jpg, 2021 winner,
Safe Conduct
† indicates a filly
References
* Racing Post
''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 6 ...
:
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Bibliography
* Cauz, Louis E. ''The Plate''. (1984) Deneau Publishers
External links
*
{{Authority control
Restricted stakes races in Canada
Horse races in Canada
Flat horse races for three-year-olds
Organizations based in Canada with royal patronage
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
Woodbine Racetrack
Recurring sporting events established in 1860
1860 establishments in Ontario
Summer events in Canada