Strait of Dover wires Queen’s Plate in track record time

Strait of Dover was crowned following a wire job in the Queen’s Plate (Courtesy of WEG/Michael Burns Photography) by Brisnet.com Canyon Farms’ homebred Strait of Dover, ridden confidently by Justin Stein, made every pole a winning one while taking the $978,340 Queen’s Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, in record time Sunday at Woodbine. At the finish of the 1 1/4-mile classic for Canadian-bred three-year-olds, Strait of Dover held a 1 1/4-length margin over filly Irish Mission, winner of the recent Woodbine Oaks, with Dixie Strike, the only other filly in the race, a farther 3 3/4 lengths back in third. Colleen’s Sailor, trying to give his trainer Roger Attfield a record ninth Plate win, was fourth after dogging the leader for most of the trip. The final time was 2:01.99, eclipsing the former Polytrack mark of 2:02.18 set by Pachattack two years ago. The Plate record of 2:01 4/5 seconds is held by 1990 winner Izvestia, when timing was calculated in fifths instead of 10ths. “I loved this horse all along,” said an elated Stein. “He’s shown me, and I have said it time and time again, that he is a racehorse. He wants to get out here and he wants to win. He calmed right down as soon as he saw that we were going into the gate and he just stood there and waited for his turn to be loaded. That’s what he wants to do.

“I didn’t have to be on the lead with him today but no one else wanted to go
and we were going pretty easy so I just let him roll on up there. I have faith
in this horse and he just galloped around there like a champ.”

The son of English Channel is a British-Columbia bred, as is the 32-year-old
Stein, who was born in New Westminster. It was the first Plate win for Stein,
whose best previous finish was fourth with Ascot Bill in 2006. It was also the
first Plate win for Wally and Terry Leong’s Canyon Farms, who had one previous
Plate starter — Illusive Force in 2003 — who finished last of 12 behind
eventual Triple Crown winner Wando.

But it was the second Plate triumph for trainer Daniel Vella, who conditioned
1994 winner Basqueian for Stronach Stables.

“Good horses do good things,” Vella said. “We all like to take a little
credit but truthfully he’s a great horse and that’s what it’s really about, the
people that bred such a great horse and just being associated and being able to
train these types of horses. It’s what us guys in this industry, that’s what we
want to do.

“Well, we talked about it with Justin and we analyzed the race and we thought
it was a possibility we would end up on the front end. We really didn’t want
that. You’re doing the work for everyone else, but if you’re there, you’re
there.”

Stein guided Strait of Dover around the track through splits of :23 4/5, :47
3/5, 1:12 1/5 and 1:37. For the first mile he was tracked by Colleen’s Sailor,
but easily put that rival away once hitting the lane.

However, a new challenger was just beginning her run as Irish Mission came
motoring down the middle of the track after racing in midpack on the
backstretch. Strait of Dover would not be caught, seeming to extend his stride
to hold the Woodbine Oaks winner.

Strait of Dover returned $9.60, $5.80 and $4.30 as the 7-2 second choice in
the Queen’s Plate. Colleen’s Sailor was fourth under the line, with Ultimate
Destiny, 7-2 favorite River Rush, Making Amends, Classic Bryce, Washington Dash,
Golden Ridge, Wilcox, Macho Whiskey, Peyton and Big Creek completing the order
of finish.

Strait of Dover just made his stakes bow one race prior to the Queen’s Plate,
taking the May 12 Marine Stakes by 6 1/2 lengths, and was scheduled to
contest the June 3 Plate Trial next but his connections decided to skip that
race after looking at the colt’s bloodwork.

“His white count was just a tad low,” Vella explained. “It was
just lower than the normal range and we were debating whether to go (to the
Trial) or not anyways, so after that we thought we’d just wait.”

Strait of Dover is the first winner
of both the Marine and Queen’s Plate since Wando, who also wired the Plate, completed the double en route
to eventual Canadian Triple Crown glory in 2003.

Stein and Strait of Dover are both graduates of Hastings Park, the same
Vancouver venue that produced this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness-winning
jockey Maria Gutierrez. The colt was off-the-board while making his first
two career starts at that track for trainer Cindy Krasner, but has crossed under the finish line
first in all five starts since moving to Vella’s Woodbine barn.

Even though
he finished first, Strait of Dover was disqualified to third in his debut at Woodbine
last November, but has been unbeatable since, racking up a 7-4-0-1 career mark
to go along with $749,628 in lifetime earnings.

Strait of Dover is out of the winning Danzig mare
Bahrain Star, making him a half-brother to Grade 3-placed dual stakes victress
Starlite Strike. His third dam is English champion Rose Bowl, herself a
half-sibling to dual English champion Ile de Bourbon.

The dark bay runner’s connections will now have to decide whether to enter
Strait of Dover in the second leg in Canada’s Triple Crown, the C$500,000 Prince
of Wales Stakes going 1 3/16 miles over Fort Erie’s dirt on July 15. The third
and final leg is the $500,000 Breeders Stakes scheduled for August 5 back at
Woodbine at 1 1/2 miles on the lawn.

There have been seven Triple Crown winners since the concept was inaugurated
in 1959, the last being Wando in 2003.

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