Field of 12 Will Race for the Queen’s Plate

The preps have been run, the post-position draw has been made, the morning line is set, and a field of 10 colts and two fillies is ready to make a run for history in the $1,000,000 Grade I (Can.) Queen’s Plate, the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America. The race, for Canadian-bred three-year-olds, and the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, goes 1 ¼ miles over Woodbine’s Polytrack this Sunday, July 7, 2013. Post time is 5:38 PM ET.

Up With The Birds will be the one to beat

Sam-Son Farms Up With The Birds has been installed as the 2-1 ML favorite. A son of Stormy Atlantic, he has never finished worse than third in six lifetime starts, and most recently handily won the Marine Stakes at Woodbine. Sam-Son will be chasing their sixth Plate victory, the most recent coming with Eye of the Leopard in 2009. The filly Nipissing, winner of this year’s Woodbine Oaks, is the early second choice at 7-2, while Dynamic Sky, a nose-winner of the Plate Trial, rounds out the top three at 4-1.

Shot at Canadian Triple Crown for the winner

Following those top choices will be Pyrite Mountain (6-1), His Race To Win, who fell just short to Dynamic Sky in the Trial, and the filly Spring In The Air, the beaten favorite in the Oaks, both at 10-1. Rounding out the field are Midnight Aria (15-1), Kaigun, Jagger M and River Seven (all 20-1),  County Lineman (30-1) and Rackman (50-1).  In the quest for the Canadian Triple Crown, the Queen’s Plate is followed by the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders’ Stakes. The last horse to sweep all three was Wando in 2004.