TORONTO — He's always in it to win it but Kevin Attard would gladly settle for a four-horse dead heat Saturday in the $1-million King's Plate.
The veteran trainer will send four horses postward for the opening jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine Racetrack. Leading the way will be Woodbine Oaks runner-up Caitlinhergrtness, an early 12-1 pick that was supplemented to the Plate and will be the 13-horse field's lone filly.
Attard won the '22 Plate with heralded filly Moira.
Attard's other horses will be Bedard (30-1), Jokestar (20-1) and Pierre (20-1).
Having multiple entries certainly boosts the chances for success. But once the race begins, it also makes keeping tabs on them all very challenging.
"Hopefully they're all in contention and it makes it a lot easier to watch," Attard said. "I'd love to see a four-way dead heat with them all, to be honest.
"At the end of the day it only takes one and I'm hoping I have that one."
Attard and Mark Casse — 16 times Canada's top trainer and a three-time Plate winner — will account for more than half of Saturday's field. Casse will have three horses in the 1 1/4-mile race, including early favourites My Boy Prince (7-5) and Essex Serpent (2-1).
Sahin Civaci will ride My Boy Prince while veteran jockey Patrick Husbands will be aboard Essex Serpent. Husbands earned Casse his third Plate victory last year aboard Paramount Prince while Civaci was second on Elysian Field, a filly also trained by Casse.
Casse's third horse Saturday will be Midnight Mascot. Kazushi Kimura, Woodbine's top jockey the past three seasons, will be aboard.
Caitlinhergrtness's second-place finish to Kin's Concerto in the Oaks on July 20 came just two weeks after a victory also at Woodbine. Attard said part of the decision to point Caitlinhergrtness to the Plate instead of last weekend's Bison City Stakes — the second event of the Canadian Triple Tiara — was to give her additional rest.
The daughter of Omaha-Beach-Belatrix has two wins, a second and third from six starts. She'll be ridden by Rafael Hernandez.
"That (rest) was certainly part of the equation," Attard said. "She came to me a little later … so we were a little bit behind the 8-ball getting her ready for the Oaks and I thought her race, considering it was only two weeks after her previous start, was spectacular.
"We do get five pounds from the boys, which is nice, but she's definitely going to have to run the race of her life. There's no reason why with the way she's trained and behaving that she can't."
Jokestar has a win, second and two third-place finishes from eight career starts. But the bay gelding has just a third-place effort from three races this year and was fifth in last month's Plate Trial, a key Plate prep event won by My Boy Prince.
Emma-Jayne Wilson, who recently passed Hall of Famer Julie Krone for all-time purse earnings by a female jockey, will ride Jokestar. Wilson won the '07 Plate with Mike Fox.
"His last race, on paper, I think doesn't look appealing because there was no pace makeup in that race," Attard said. "The instructions to Emma that day were to kind of leave him early and try to come with a run so it was hard to close into that kind of a pace setup.
"Hopefully on Saturday there's more of an honest pace and if so, then I think (the distance) for Jokestar, that isn't going to be an issue. He'll run all day long and if there's pace to run at, he's going to be picking up the pieces."
Bedard is named after NHL player Connor Bedard. The horse is winless from six starts but has three second-place finishes and will be ridden by apprentice jockey Pietro Moran.
"Part of that (second-place finishes) shows talent and ability, he just hasn't taken that next step," Attard said. "At a mile and a quarter, there's many horses who don't want to go that far and if you find the one that's going to flourish at that distance, maybe it's Bedard.
"Pietro is a young, up-and-coming jockey who has worked really hard for me so he's going to get a chance. It would obviously be a great story if he could get the upset."
But the Plate wildcard for Attard is Pierre, a horse that's finished in the money in all four of his starts (win, second, two thirds) but will race in his first stakes event. American David Cohen will ride Pierre.
"He's a horse I really like, I've always liked and held in high regard," Attard said. "He's learning still, still a little green.
"He just needs everything to kind of come and line up for him. I think we could see an upset with him."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2024.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
