A field of 13 line up in Sunday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine. (Photo credit” Woodbine Entertainment).
A competitive field of 13 will line up in Sunday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown.
This is the 162nd edition of the Queen’s Plate, North America’s oldest continually run race. The race will be decided over the Tapeta surface going 1 ¼ miles kicking off the Triple Crown. The second jewel is the Prince of Wales Stakes at For Erie on dirt at 1 3/16 miles. The final leg is the 1½ Breeders’ Stakes back at Woodbine at 1 1/2 miles which is run on turf.
Trainer Kevin Attard will saddle four runners while his father Tino Attard will saddle the 4-1 morning line favorite Keep Grinding.
Four of the last 10 runnngs of the Queen’s Plate have been won by fillies and this year one of the Attard quartet is the filly Munnyfor Ro, who won the Woodbine Oaks in her last outing on Aug. 1 going 1 1/8 miles over the tapeta surface.
“We waited to see how she came out of the race [Woodbine Oaks]. She seemed to handle the race really well in the Oaks,” Attard said. “She had a good work in the interim and she’s been doing really well. She’s in the feed tub and it seems like she’s ready to fire again.”
2021 Woodbine Oaks Replay
Attard’s other three runners are Harlan Estate (12-1), Haddassah (10-1) and H C Holiday (15-1).
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There are three supporting stakes on the 13-race card—the $350,000 Highlander (G1), the $175,000 Dance Smartly (G2) and the $150,000 Colleen (G3). I have included all of the stakes in today’s Best Plays Report.
Let’s head out to Woodbine for Sunday’s featured race of the day:
Woodbine Race 10 The Queen’s Plate (5:42 ET)
6 Munnyfor Ro 9-2
8 Keep Grinding 4-1
10 Dance Some Mo 12-1
11 Avoman 8-1
Munnyfor Ro
This filly takes on the boys here after winning the Woodbine Oaks and was supplement to this race for $25,000. Fillies have down quite well in this race, winning in four of the last 10 editions and three of them—Inglorious (2011), Lexie Lou (2014), and Holy Helena (2017) came in off wins in the Woodbine Oaks. She earned a career top speed fig in her last out win was at 1 1/8 miles She ran second two back in open company in the Selene (G3) at 1 1/16 miles. By Munnings out of a Distorted Humor are she should be able to get the 1 1/4 miles and carries five less pounds than the boys.
Keep Grinding
The colt makes his third start off the bench here and is coming off a solid runner up finish at 16-1 in the Marine (G3) over the main track here at Woodbine at 1 1/16 miles. He earned a career top in the effort and he looks as if he is going to be able to handle more ground. He should get a good trip sitting fairly close to the front and while Stein lands on our top pick he gets a suitable replacement in Hernandez.
Dance Some Mo
This gelding makes his stakes debut here for the Motion barn. He graduated on turf at Churchill Downs back in May, then was outrun going 1 1/4 miles on turf at Belmont Park versus Alw-1 foes. His first trip on the Tapeta came here last out and he got clear heading for home and got nailed right at the wire, beaten a nose. It was a promising effort and he looks as if he still has some upside. For Motion to ship this guy up here after his poor showing on grass at Belmont Park indicated we may not have seen the best out of this guy yet and his 12-1 morning line looks fair enough.
Wagering:
WIN: Munnyfor Ro to win at 4-1 or better.
EXACTA: 6 / 1,8,10,11 and 6,8 / 6,8,10
