Proving worthy of her history-making namesake, WNBA star Caitlin Clark, Caitlinhergrtness beat the boys in Friday’s $734,899 King’s Plate at Woodbine. The 9.35-1 chance rolled past 3-5 favorite My Boy Prince in deep stretch to win the 165th running of the classic for Canadian-breds.
Jockey Rafael Hernandez was earning his third career Plate victory, following Shaman Ghost (2015) and Moira (2022). Both came in its era as the Queen’s Plate, and the filly Moira was an apt final winner during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Like Moira, Caitlinhergrtness is a Kevin Attard trainee who used the Woodbine Oaks in her own division as a stepping stone to the Plate. But the similarities end there.
Moira crushed fellow fillies in the Oaks before meting out the same treatment to males in the Plate. Caitlinhergrtness was runner-up in the Oaks, but that was just her second start for Attard.
Co-owned by Siena Farm and WinStar Farm, Caitlinhergrtness started out stateside with Todd Pletcher last season. After breaking her maiden at Aqueduct Sept. 28, she went off as the 1.70-1 favorite in the Nov. 5 Tempted S., only to fade to fourth over the same track and one-mile trip. Caitlinhergrtness was fourth again in a Feb. 14 sprint allowance at Gulfstream Park.
Then her connections opted to repatriate the Ontario-bred and transferred her to Attard. Caitlinhergrtness made a winning debut for the barn in a July 6 allowance over Woodbine’s turf course.
Dispatched as the Woodbine Oaks favorite just two weeks later, Caitlinhergrtness surged to the front, but got collared late. Attard believed that the short time frame between races played a role in her narrow loss.
Better spacing going into the Plate would redound to her benefit. Moreover, Caitlinhergrtness got six extra days thanks to the Plate’s postponement from last Saturday, Aug. 17, due to torrential rain.
More patient tactics also helped save Caitlinhergrtness’s kick for the finish. Hernandez settled the chestnut slightly farther back early, yet still within striking range 2 1/2 lengths off the pace, and waited to launch her rally.
Meanwhile, the odds-on My Boy Prince was prompting Essex Serpent, his stablemate from the Mark Casse barn, through honest fractions of :23.74, :47.23, and 1:11.60 on the Tapeta. Essex Serpent, the 9-2 second choice, was already coming under pressure.
My Boy Prince put away Essex Serpent on the far turn and made a bold bid for glory. Last year’s Canadian champion two-year-old male spurted 2 1/2 lengths clear at the mile mark in 1:36.14, but his lead grew increasingly tenuous down the stretch.
Caitlinhergrtness, who emerged from the rest of the pack rounding the turn, gained ground in the lane. Looming up in midstretch, she steadily overhauled My Boy Prince by three-quarters of a length. She negotiated 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.45 and rewarded her loyalists with $20.70.
The chart records a slow final quarter in :27.31, indicating that My Boy Prince didn’t stay the trip after his pace-pressing voyage. Another Casse pupil, Midnight Mascot, closed from far back for third. Pierre rounded out the superfecta, trailed by Jokestar, Vitality, Thor’s Cause, No More Options, Rafaroo, Essex Serpent, Friendly Ghost, and Roar of the Crowd. Bedard was scratched.
Caitlinhergrtness was bred by Jesse Korona in Ontario and initially sold for $65,000 as a Keeneland November weanling. She turned a profit in her subsequent auction appearances, bringing $160,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September and going to her current connections for $375,000 as an OBS April juvenile.
From the first crop of Omaha Beach, and hailing from the family of such luminaries as Shamardal and Street Cry, Caitlinhergrtness has compiled a record of 7-3-1-1, $627,069.
Caitlinhergrtness is closely related to Dogtag, a multiple stakes victress and Grade 1-placed turf performer. By War Front, the sire of Omaha Beach, Dogtag is a half-sister to the dam of Caitlinhergrtness, the unraced Giant’s Causeway mare Belatrix.
Perhaps Caitlinhergrtness will ultimately excel on turf, like her Plate-winning stablemate, Moira, who just landed the Aug. 11 Beverly D. (G2).
