Saturday’s King’s Plate at Woodbine preview

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There are few sports more truly global than horse racing, where a champion jockey can emerge from just about anywhere. The jockeys riding in Saturday’s King’s Plate represent a bit of a microcosm of this profession as a whole.

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While 12 of the 13 participants spend all or much of their year riding at Woodbine, there’s a wide range of age and experience amongst them. And even though the Plate is a Canadian classic, no fewer than eight countries are represented by the men and woman who will chase the big prize.

Thirty years of excellence since arriving from Barbados has landed Patrick Husbands a spot in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame to which he was inducted earlier this month in his first year of eligibility. Should he win on Saturday aboard Essex Serpent, he will join legends Avelino Gomez, Robin Platts and Sandy Hawley as the only four-time winners of the race.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernandez will be looking for his third win in the race following his triumphs in 2016 and 2022. Japan’s Daisuke Fukumoto will be looking for his second after taking the 2020 edition. That’s one more Plate win than fellow countryman Kazushi Kimura. The three-time Sovereign Award winner returns back to home base from his summer secondment at Del Mar to try and even that score.

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Among the locals looking for their first Plate win is Ryan Munger, who has enjoyed success in his native South Africa as well as Zimbabwe and Singapore and Jose Campos, who began riding at Woodbine full time last season after years of success in his native Mexico.

Of course a Plate win will resonate the most amongst the Canadian riders in the race. B.C. native Justin Stein won his Plate in 2012 and has won the past two runnings of the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel of the triple crown. Emma-Jayne Wilson broke the glass ceiling in 2007 with just her second Plate mount. She recently became the all-time winningest female jockey in career earnings.

Sahin Civaci, a Vancouver native who developed a love for racing while growing up in Turkey, is making his fourth Plate start aboard 7-5 morning-line favourite My Boy Prince. Jeffrey Alderson practically grew up at the racetrack with his father, a trainer based out of Fort Erie and his mother holding a job at the border oval. This will be his second Plate start. Making their debuts in the race will be Pietro Moran, who came to Canada from Ireland at age six with his father David and now occasionally rides against him, and Fraser Aebly, a 20-year-old Grande Prairie, Alta. native who arrived at Woodbine last fall after spending time around western Canadian tracks.

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The only U.S.-based rider to come up for the Plate is David Cohen. Now riding mainly in Chicago and Iowa, he is best known for being part of a dead-heat for win in the 2012 Travers Stakes.

OTHER ACTION

The $200,000 King Edward Stakes heads the undercard with the Mark Casse-trained Filo Di Arianna looking to solidify a spot in the Woodbine Mile next month. Casse also has the favourite in both two-year-old stakes, the $150,000 Soaring Free with Mensa and the $150,000 Catch a Glimpse with Bullet. Popular sprinter Patches O’Houlihan heads the $150,000 Bold Venture Stakes with Sofia Vives aboard for trainer Bob Tiller.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

Plate day has again become a summer party with social areas throughout the grounds. Singer Lu Kala will be the headline performer as a crowd of 20,000 is expected. But the biggest attraction could be Olympic gold-medallist Phil Kim (AKA Phil Wizard), who will perform in public for the first time since winning the men’s breakdancing competition in Paris last weekend.

Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis.

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