First King’s Plate in 70 years brings plenty of buzz to Woodbine

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For a race about to add the 164th winner to its honor roll, there’s a lot about Sunday’s King’s Plate that feels like a fresh start.

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First off, the name. Since its inaugural running in 1860 when Queen Victoria made her first donation of 50 guineas to the race, the Plate has corresponded with the head of the British monarchy.

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It operated as the King’s Plate through four monarchs from 1902 to 1951 and, that final year, Major Factor defeated 20 rivals at the track that was last known as Greenwood Racetrack until its closing in 1993. The name returns this year with the ascendency of Charles III to the throne.

There also appears to be a new buzz to the race. After years of decline followed by pandemic restrictions that forced the race under closed doors in 2020 and reduced attendance a year later, Woodbine announced earlier this week that tickets have been sold out. And this comes without a booster event such as the concerts that were on offer a few years ago.

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On Wednesday came a significant game-changer for both the Plate and local racing in general: When single-event sports wagering became legal in Ontario last year, horse racing was left off the ticket. Now the Plate and the rest of the province’s horse racing products will be available on the Bet365 wagering site.

“It’s a huge win for the Ontario horse racing industry, for the 25,000 jobs this industry supports,” Woodbine Entertainment chairman and CEO Jim Lawson said. “It’s taken a year and a half of hard work from the Woodbine team to get us to this stage.”

He explained they always wanted horse racing on the sports betting platforms, but not without some benefit to the racetracks and not with a fixed-odds option that might compromise the pari-mutuel system that racetracks employ.

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“The good news is Woodbine is effectively a non-profit corporation, we put all of our revenue back into horse racing so this is a great thing for the industry in terms of potential revenue,” Lawson said. “More than that, you could see the sports-betting world just growing and growing.”

Bet365’s platform will be integrated with Woodbine’s HPIBet operation so users of the sports site can access a menu that includes just about all North American racetracks as well as racing from Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. It is expected other sites will jump on board in the future.

“I very much expect that with this announcement we’re going to hear from all of the major sports-betting operators asking how they can get our content as an additional offering on their platform,” Lawson said. “About 8% worldwide of most sports betting operators is on horse racing.”

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THE INVADER

However one chooses to bet this Plate, it will be a process trying to land on the winner. A maximum field of 17 were entered Wednesday plus two also-eligibles that could run in the event of scratches. And, while most horses are based at Woodbine, Kalik comes up from New York and will start from post six as the 3-1 morning-line favourite.

Kalik needed some time to learn the job as he could only manage a second-place finish in two starts at Aqueduct last year. But the son of Collected had it down pat in his first three starts earlier this year, breaking his maiden at Gulfstream before heading back to New York for an allowance win followed by an authoritative front-running score on the grass in the Pennine Ridge at Belmont.

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His most recent run in the Belmont Derby can be excused as he was a little fractious in the gate then had very little pop in the race itself, finishing a dull eighth. Trainer Chad Brown put Irad Ortiz, Jr. on board in Kalik’s past four starts, but will utilize Kazushi Kimura on Sunday.

Despite never having run on synthetic, Kalik’s style is enough to excite Woodbine’s leading jockey who is still looking for a Plate breakthrough.

“I’ve been watching video and looking at this horse and what he’s capable of,” said Kimura, who heads to this week’s racing with 65 Woodbine wins. “I really like the way this horse glides when he runs.

“He’s very strong and he’s very competitive.”

Safe Conduct, the 2021 Plate winner, also used the Pennine Ridge and Belmont Derby as preps leading to the Plate.

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THE KING’S PLATE FIELD

The Plate Field (With Trainer/Jockey in parentheses and morning-line odds)

1. Stanley House (Mike DePaulo/Javier Castellano) 4-1

2. Elysian Field (Mark Casse/Sahin Civaci) 8-1

3. Philip My Dear (Kevin Attard/Daisuke Fukumoto) 30-1

4. Twin City (Stuart Simon/Gary Boulanger) 30-1

5. Morstachy’s (Renico Lafond/Leo Salles) 50-1

6. Kalik (Chad Brown/Kazushi Kimura) 3-1

7. Velocitor (Kevin Attard/Justin Stein) 30-1

8. Wickenheiser (Kevin Attard/Rafael Hernandez) 12-1

9. Silent Miracle (John Mattine/Ryan Munger) 30-1

10. Midnight in Malibu (Sid Attard/Adam Beschizza) 30-1

11. Touch ‘N Ride (Layne Giliforte/Jose Campos) 12-1

12. Cool Kiss (Mike De Paulo/Emma-Jayne Wilson) 30-1

13. Paramount Prince (Mark Casse/Patrick Husbands) 10-1

14. Twowaycrossing (Roger Attfield/Antonio Gaillardo) 30-1

15. Kaukokaipuu (Tedston Holder/Rico Walcott) 6-1

16. El Cohete (Mike De Paulo/Eswan Flores) 50-1

17. Moon Landing (Kevin Attard/Luis Contreras) 20-1

AE. Enjoythesilent (Kevin Attard)

AE. Runaway Charlie (Mike Doyle)

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