TORONTO — They were 1-2 in last year's $1-million King's Plate and trainer Mark Casse anticipates another interesting battle between jockeys Patrick Husbands and Sahin Civaci on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack.
Civaci will ride 7-5 early favourite My Boy Prince in the opening leg of the OLG Triple Crown while Husbands will be aboard 2-1 second choice Essex Serpent. Both horses are trained by Casse.
Husbands earned Casse his third Plate victory last year aboard Paramount Prince. Civaci was second aboard Elysian Field, a filly also trained by Casse.
"So I'm sure one's going to try to keep it that way and the other will want to try to reverse the finish," Casse said with a chuckle.
Casse will have a third horse in the 1 1/4-mile race on Woodbine's all-weather course in Midnight Mascot, which will be ridden by Kazushi Kimura, Woodbine's top jockey the past three seasons.
The King's Plate is North America’s oldest continually run race. Stronach Farms' Rafaroo is the 8-1 third choice.
My Boy Prince drew post No. 7 on Tuesday at Woodbine. Essex Serpent will break from the No. 3 post with Midnight Mascot at No. 5 in the 13-horse field. Casse, 16 times Canada's top trainer, was happy with all three spots.
"I don't know how you couldn't be," he said. "(No. 7 post) is a perfect spot for (My Boy Prince).
"I don't think you could ask for a better spot."
Trainer Kevin Attard will send four horses postward Saturday, including Woodbine Oaks runner-up Caitlinhergrtness (12-1, post No. 4), who was supplemented to the race. The field's lone filly has two wins, a second and third from six starts.
Attard won the 2022 Plate with filly Moira.
"She definitely belongs here and the hope is she can continue to elevate her game," Attard said. "Her race (in Oaks), considering it was only two weeks after her previous start, was spectacular.
"She was caught very late and I was thrilled with her performance."
Attard's other horses will be Bedard (30-1), Jokestar (20-1) and Pierre (20-1). Bedard, named after NHL player Connor Bedard, is winless from six starts but has three second-place finishes and will be ridden by apprentice Pietro Moran.
"I'd love to see a four-way dead heat with them all," Attard said with a smile. "You're trying to watch them all, obviously, hopefully they're all in contention and it makes it a lot easier to watch.
"At the end of the day it only takes one and I'm hoping I have that one."
My Boy Prince showed plenty of resiliency in his last start. With Civaci aboard, My Boy Prince reared at the start but still recovered to win the $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes last month at Woodbine by 1 1/4 lengths.
Canada’s champion two-year-old male has won three straight races and finished in the money in nine-of-10 career starts (six wins, twice second, third). But the question remains just how good can My Boy Prince be Saturday with a clean start?
"That's a good question," Casse said. "I can tell you I've seen a lot of good horses not be able to overcome what he overcame.
"I've always said a good horse will win when everything goes right, a great horse wins when nothing goes right. I was quite impressed."
Essex Serpent also heads into the Plate on a winning note, capturing the Grade 3 Marine Stakes on June 29. The horse has two victories and a second-place finish from three starts.
"He trains like a good horse," Casse said. "His race in the Marine was extremely good.
"It would be hard to separate the two (My Boy Prince and Essex Serpent) right now."
Midnight Mascot has two wins, two seconds and three third-place finishes from eight starts.
Casse, 63, said chasing Plate titles never gets old.
"It's such a prestigious race with so much history that you could never get used to winning it," he said. "What motivates you to win it again is not losing it.
"That's what motivates you."
Wando, ridden by Patrick Husbands and trained by Mike Keogh for owner Gus Schickedanz, was Canada's last Triple Crown winner in 2003.
The Plate field, with post, horse, jockey and odds includes: 1. Jokestar, Emma-Jayne Wilson, 20-1; 2. Rafaroo, Ryan Munger, 8-1; 3. Essex Serpent, Husbands, 2-1; 4. Caitlinhergrtness, Rafael Hernandez, 12-1; 5. Midnight Mascot, Kimura, 10-1; 6. Friendly Ghost, Justin Stein, 30-1; 7. My Boy Prince, Civaci, 7-5; 8. Pierre, David Cohen, 20-1; 9. Thor’s Cause, Jeffrey Alderson, 50-1; 10. Bedard, Moran, 30-1; 11. Roar of the Crowd, Fraser Aebly, 50-1; 12. No More Options, Daisuke Fukumoto, 30-1; 13. Vitality, Jose Campos, 20-1.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2024.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
