King's Plate features robust field on Canada's biggest racing day

Canadian racing takes center stage Saturday, as the 166th King’s Plate highlights a stacked card on Canada’s biggest racing day at Woodbine. The $1 million King’s Plate drew a wide variety of 13 3-year-olds. The 1 1/4-miles race on Tapeta drew a pair of last-out maiden winners, a total of eight stakes winners, a last-out Grade 3 winner, and even a filly, No Time, set as the 7-2 morning-line favorite. 

The King’s Plate is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, run over three different surfaces. The next leg of the series is the Prince of Wales Stakes going 1 3/16 miles on dirt at Fort Erie on Sept. 9 and is followed up by the Breeders’ Stakes going 1 1/2 miles on turf on Sept. 28 at Woodbine. 

It’s not uncommon for fillies to win the King’s Plate, in fact, it’s happened 37 times, including last year with Caitlinhergrtness. Two fillies have won the King’s Plate and gone on to sweep the Triple Crown. In 2022, Moira won the King’s Plate and last year, won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf before being named champion turf filly. 

Trained by Mark Casse, who’s won this race three times, starts the pair of Ashley’s Archer and No Time. Ashley’s Archer is an outsider at 12-1 but No Time rates an excellent chance off her last-out victory in the Woodbine Oaks. No Time had only won twice before the Woodbine Oaks, but the stretch-out in distance to 1 1/8 miles seemed to suit her and suggest Saturday’s distance will be to her liking. John Velazquez will ride No Time fr om post 10 and Sahin Civaci will ride Ashley’s Archer from post 13. 

Tom’s Magic will make his Tapeta debut, after racing on turf for the first five starts of his career. Trained by Michael Stidham, Tom’s Magic looked like a budding 3-year-old winning the Black Gold at Fair Grounds but faltered next out when ninth in the Grade 3 Transylvania at Keeneland. Returning from a brief freshening, Tom’s Magic won the Tale of the Cat last out at Monmouth. Tom’s Magic will get back on Lasix, an anti-bleeding medication typically not allowed in stakes. Lasix is permitted in Canadian stakes, as is the case at Fair Grounds, where Tom’s Magic used the medication for his first three starts. Raul Hernandez rides 5-1 Tom’s Magic.

Mansetti is likely to come down off his 10-1 morning line, as a last-out winner of the Grade 3 Marine when stretching out to two turns for the first time. Mansetti, trained by Kevin Attard, was forward in the Marine and should be again from the rail under leading rider Pietro Moran. Just outside of Mansetti is longshot William T, who will be ridden by Moran’s father Davi d, making the pair the first father-son duo to ride the King’s Plate.

Five horses are coming out of the King’s Plate Trial. Winner Sedburys Ghost is 6-1 on the morning line but second-place finisher, Notorious Gangster, is 9-2, and likely rates a better chance. Sedburys Ghost was fourth in the Marine behind runner-up Scorching, who was third in the Plate Trial and returns Saturday. Watsonville Red was fourth in the Plate Trial and will be a longshot Saturday. Dewolf was sixth but attracted the services of jockey Flavien Prat for Saturday.

A pair of longshots to consider are Runaway Again for trainer Sid Attard and Mythical Man for trainer Danny Gargan. Runaway Again was a 9 1/4-length maiden winner last out and now gets a serious class test. Javier Castellano rides the 12-1 longshot. Mythical Man has yet to try the Tapeta but has run well on turf. After a maiden win at Aqueduct, Mythical Man won a high-level allowance at Gulfstream, beating a solid group that has produced winners. Mythical Man was seventh in the Grade 3 Manila last out at Saratoga against an incredibly tough group. Mythical Man also adds Lasix for the first time, a move that Gargan hits with at 21 percent. Sofia Vive s rides the 50-1 longshot, who is all but certain to outrun his odds.

The King’s Plate goes as race 9 nine on a 13-race card and is in the middle of a trio of graded stakes, topped by the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor.

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