Post Position: 7
* You might want to keep an ‘Eye’ on the red and gold silks of Sam-Son Farm in this year’s Queen’s Plate. With four “Gallop for the Guineas” crowns to their name, one of Canada’s most prominent owner/breeder looks to a horse that was ‘spot on’ in a key Plate prep, to make it win number five.
* He’s regally bred, sired by A.P. Indy, and his dam was 2004 Woodbine Oaks winner Eye of the Sphynx (Canada’s champion three-year-old five years ago), and he’s coming into the Plate on a two-race win streak, including a neck nod in the Plate Trial Stakes, on May 31.
* “This is the mare’s first foal,” said Dave Whitford, Farm Manager for Sam-Son. “He was just over 100 pounds when he was born. He was a very nice-looking foal, a lot of leg. He was a little long in the pastern, but at the 30-day stage, he looked like a million dollars. He went through his gangly stages, but he had to go through that to get where he is. Now, he stands about 17 hands. He’s a big horse.”
* And one that has always seemed to fit in well. “He was pretty relaxed as a foal. When he was with the herd of other mares and foals, he wasn’t an obnoxious kid. He blended in just fine. I’m just very happy to see him progress to where he is. He’s come a long way. He didn’t race as a two-year-old, but he’s made some wonderful strides to get here.”
* “He’s just a big, goofy kid right now,” said conditioner Mark Frostad, who has three Plate wins. “He’ll get better as he goes along. He doesn’t have a whole lot of seasoning but his last two races have been terrific.”
* Eye of the Leopard pounced to the lead in his start previous to the Plate Trial, dueling early in the 1 1/16-mile race on May 10 at Woodbine, then shrugging off all rivals for a 2 ¾-length triumph under Eurico Rosa da Silva.
* As for the Plate Trial…“He ran a big race and I think the Plate distance (1 ¼-miles) will suit him very well,” offered Frostad. “In the Plate Trial, he really got rolling, but he was wide on both turns. I knew we got there (at the wire). I figured that race would bode well for him in the future.”
* It was a far more pleasing performance than his career bow that came on April 15 at Keeneland. With Robby Albarado in the irons, the bay colt ‘failed to respond’ as noted in the comment line, finishing eighth, 10 ¾ lengths behind Big Top in the seven furlong Polytrack race. “He just wasn’t focused,” noted Frostad. “We ran him without blinkers and he was just looking around. It was also seven furlongs, which isn’t his ideal distance.”
* But with blinkers added, Eye of the Leopard, listed at 40-1 in the Queen’s Plate Winterbook, now has his eyes on the big prize. “We know we have a big shot going into the race. He’s just continued to develop and understand what he’s doing more and more. He trains well and he’s really coming into his own.”
* Frostad certainly gets that impression from Eye of the Leopard’s regular rider. “Eurico has been on him the whole time he’s been here (Woodbine). He’s full of confidence when it comes to this horse.”
* Just ask him…“He was relaxing in the race,” said da Silva, of the Plate Trial triumph. “Down the backstretch I had so much horse. I was just waiting for the right time to let him run and that’s what I did. He was running very focused. In the middle of the turn, I had no choice, we had to go outside but he made a very good move, continued to run strong and galloped out beautifully.”
* When did Frostad know he had a good racehorse in his barn? “We liked him right from the very start,” he said. “You look at his breeding and you can’t help but believe he had the chance to be a good horse. It was just a question of would he get there. But you knew if he ran to his breeding and to his looks, he could be a talented one.”
* Frostad would love nothing more than to add another Plate trophy to his impressive collection. It’s been eight years since he celebrated his last “Gallop for the Guineas” win, a second consecutive Plate score, in 2001 with Dancethruthedawn. But when you ask the veteran conditioner who Eye of the Leopard reminds him most of, you have to go back one more year for the answer. “He reminds me of (2000 Plate champ) Scatter The Gold,” said Frostad. “But with more tactical speed.”
Owner – Sam-Son Farm
Sam-Son Farm has earned Sovereign Awards as Canada’s outstanding owner on nine occasions and seven times has been named outstanding breeder.
Last year, Sam-Son runners took two local stakes: the Ontario with Mulmur and the Summer with Grand Adventure. Racing highlights of 2007 included an impressive graded stakes double by Strike Softly in the Hendrie and Nassau as well as a breakout performance by Speak Wisely in the Ontario Colleen Stakes.
The 2006 campaign was yet another successful one for the red and gold silks of Sam-Son, a season in which they won eight stakes at Woodbine, including three with Strike Softly, the Ontario Damsel, Carotene and Jammed Lovely. Catch the Thrill was named champion two-year-old filly in Canada at the 2006 Sovereign Awards.
In 2004, Sam-Son topped the owner parade with 37 wins and $4,262,645. They captured 13 stakes, four with Atto Mile winner Soaring Free, who also was voted two Sovereign Awards, as Top Turf Male and Horse of the Year. Another highlight was a Woodbine Oaks win by Eye of the Sphynx.
In 2003, Sam-Son won 31 races (nine stakes) and over $3.1 million, highlighted by Sovereign Award (Top Sprinter) winner Soaring Free, who won three local stakes events. The year also saw Sam-Son’s Dance Smartly receive the sport’s greatest honour when she was inducted in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga Springs in August.
In 2002, Sam-Son won 28 races (eight stakes) and over $2.8 million at Woodbine, second only to Stronach Stables’ $3.6 million, in a season highlighted by Portcullis’ three added-money wins, including the Breeders’ Stakes, on his way to earning a Sovereign Award as champion turfer.
In 2001, the stable won 27 races (10 stakes) and over $3.2 million, topped by Sovereign Award-winning three-year-old filly Dancethruthedawn’s wins in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks and Queen’s Plate.
Industrialist Ernie Samuel was the founder of Sam-Son Farm and began to build his racing empire in the late 1970s. In 1991, Samuel was named Canadian racing’s Man-of-the-Year as Dance Smartly became the first Canadian-owned and bred horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race, taking the Distaff at Churchill Downs. She also became the only filly to win the Canadian Triple Crown and is the only mare to foal back-to-back Plate winners (Scatter The Gold and Dancethruthedawn).
Sam-Son has produced some of Canada’s most famous horses. Dance Smartly (1991), Sky Classic (1992) and Chief Bearhart (1997) all won Eclipse Awards as North American champions. The stable has won four Queen’s Plates: Regal Intention (1988), Dance Smartly (1991), Scatter The Gold (2000) and Dancethruthedawn (2001) and a record seven Oaks: Classy ‘N Smart (1984), Tilt My Halo (1988), Tiffany's Secret (1990), Dance Smartly (1991), Catch The Ring (2000), Dancethruthedawn (2001) and Eye Of The Sphynx (2004).
Other major wins include the Atto Mile (Quiet Resolve, 1999 and Soaring Free, 2004) and Canadian International (Sky Classic, 1991 and Chief Bearhart, 1997). Chief Bearhart also took the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Turf, was voted an Eclipse Award as North America’s top male turf horse and was the unanimous choice as Canada’s Horse of the Year. In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Samuel was inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame as a builder in 1998. Unfortunately, he died in May of 2000. Sam-Son banked more than $5 million in purses during that bittersweet 2000 season, a year highlighted by Quiet Resolve’s runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Sovereign Awards as Canada’s Horse of the Year and Turf Champion; Scatter The Gold capturing the Queen’s Plate and Catch The Ring’s win in the Oaks.
After Ernie Samuel’s passing, the stable was managed by his wife Liza and daughter Tammy Samuel-Balaz. In early 2008, both Tammy and Liza passed away, but the operation remains a force in Canadian racing circles. Kim Samuel-Johnson, Mark Samuel, and Rick Balaz now share the duties in guiding Sam-Son Farm's development.
Trainer - Mark Frostad
Mark Frostad has enjoyed an unparalleled run as trainer for Sam-Son Farm since 1995. He’s won three Sovereigns (1997, 1999, 2000) as Canada’s outstanding conditioner, and trained at least one Sovereign Award from 1994 until 2004.
Frostad launched his 2008 campaign with French Beret winning the Grade 3 Colonel Bradley in New Orleans. He saddled Northern Kraze to a win in the Wonder Where Stakes, third jewel in the Canadian Triple Tiara Series, recorded his 14th straight 20-win season and won his fourth Cup & Saucer with Grand Adventure.
Two years ago, he won his sixth Toronto Cup in eight years with Windward Islands and added graded stakes tallies with Strike Softly (Nassau and George C. Hendrie). In 2006, Frostad saddled eight stakes winners, including three with Strike Softly (Carotene, Jammed Lovely and Ontario Damsel) and the Princess Elizabeth with Catch the Thrill.
He has trained three Queen’s Plate winners (Victor Cooley in 1996, Scatter The Gold in 2000, Dancethruthedawn in 2001) and won every high-profile added-money event in Canada, including the Oaks, the Woodbine (Atto) Mile (Quiet Resolve in 1999; Soaring Free in 2004) and Canadian International (Chief Bearhart in 1997).
He also directed Chief Bearhart to his 1997 Breeders’ Cup Turf win and consecutive Canadian Horse of the Year titles in 1997 and 1998.
In 2004, Frostad won 39 races, including a leading 13 stakes, and was the only trainer to pass the $4-million mark in purses. In 2003, he won 33 races. In 2002, he spearheaded Sam-Son to a leading eight stakes wins. In 2001, his year was highlighted by Oaks and Queen’s Plate winner Dancethruthedawn.
The Brantford native’s introduction to horse racing began when he worked at Bo-Teek Farms, owned by his late father George, during the summer while attending Princeton University. He completed his M.B.A. at the University of Western Ontario in London.
After heading his own bloodstock agency, Frostad took out his trainer's licence in 1989 and began actively training in 1991. He directed Earle Mack’s Bruce’s Mill to a championship sophomore season in 1994, the same year he began training for Sam-Son.
On April 10, 2004, Soaring Free gave Frostad his milestone 100th career stakes score, taking the $115,100 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland in Kentucky.
Jockey – Eurico Rosa da Silva
Eurico Rosa da Silva won 500-plus races over a five-year span while competing in Brazil and close to 300 victories in four and a half years in Macau. He counts the Brazil Derby, a two-mile Grade 1 turf race, among his most memorable scores.
After contacting Irwin Driedger, a former champion rider and former president of the Jockey’s Benefit Association of Canada, da Silva immersed himself in the Woodbine racing community, early in 2004. “I don’t know how long it will take for me to be a top jockey here. But that’s what I’d like to achieve. I want to win all the races I’m in. My heart is in my throat when I win. It’s as though I am saying, ‘I can do it.’ It’s a great feeling,” he said in 2004.
The native of Sao Paulo began his riding tenure in Canada three weeks after the 2004 Thoroughbred season started. da Silva made his first year at Woodbine a memorable one, recording two added-money wins and $2,116,932 in purse earnings. Mona Rose (fourth in balloting for Canada's Champion Turf Female) made things twice as nice for da Silva, who ranked 13th in the colony, taking the Dance Smartly and Belle Geste Stakes. His first Toronto oval score came aboard Point Hidden on May 20. He posted 155 top-three finishes in all.
In 2005, da Silva captured the Ontario Fashion Stakes with Colonial Surprise and moved up two spots in the rankings (13th to 11th) from 2004.
In 2006, da Silva upped his win total by 19 from the year previous year and increased his purse earnings by nearly $400,000. He went wire-to-wire with Shot Gun Ela in the Ontario Fashion Stakes, the second straight year da Silva won the event, and ranked 11th for the second consecutive campaign.
It was a breakout campaign for da Silva in 2007, who won 83 races (22 more than in 2006), ranking sixth overall. He netted six (more than his three previous seasons combined) Woodbine stakes wins teamed with Torquay to take the Valedictory Stakes, the final added-money feature of the season, on December 9 and won seven dashes over the final 10 days of racing.
The fan favourite didn’t miss a beat in 2008, including his win with Haveubeentoldtoday in the Woodbine opener on April 5. He topped the 100-win mark at Woodbine for the first time (105) , won 13 stakes races, second-best mark in the category, took the Whimsical and Hendrie with My List, the Royal North and Seaway with Akronism and partnered Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion sprinter in 2008, Fatal Bullet, to wins in the Bold Venture Stakes at Woodbine, the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Sprint Stakes at Turfway Park, the Tom Ridge Labor Day Stakes at Presque Isle Downs and a second-place finish to Midnight Lute in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. da Silva was also a finalist (for the first time) for the top rider Sovereign Award.
“It’s very exciting to be in such a famous race as the Queen’s Plate,” said da Silva, who has built up a huge fan base at Woodbine, and is noted for his catchphrase, ‘Good luck to everybody!’
Eye of the Leopard represents his first Plate mount.