Post Position: 8
* The defending Queen’s Plate champions - trainer Roger Attfield and jockey Jono Jones - are back, this time with a ‘rapidly improving’ runner named Rapid Release. And make no mistake about it, they have a legitimate shot to win the ‘Gallop for the Guineas’. If they succeed, they’ll be the first trainer-jockey combo to win back-to-back Plates since…..Attfield and Craig Perret teamed in 1992 (Alydeed) and 1993 (Peteski).
* The chestnut son of Action This Day, winner of the 2003 Breeders Cup Juvenile, out of a St. Jovite mare named Bail Money, hence the name Rapid Release, may have tipped his hand in the Plate Trial, May 31, with a rallying third place finish to Eye of the Leopard and Southdale. With the latter on the shelf, the favourite’s mantle may fall to the Trial winner, so a horse beaten only two and one-quarter lengths certainly deserves some support as well.
* The sport of horse racing can take some strange twists and turns. Attfield, who has won a record-tying eight Queen’s Plates, now has a chance to own the record outright this year….with a horse he was the under-bidder on….at a sale in his native England, of all places, last October.
* “The new owner (Dolantori Racing) bought the horse at the Tattersalls Sale for 75,000 Guineas ($127,000) and I was the under bidder, but the owners decided to give me the horse anyway,” explained Attfield, “because I trained in Canada, I liked the horse and he’s a Canadian-bred. That’s where he should be running anyway. He looked like a legitimate Plate horse and that’s why I was interested in him.”
* Bred by Toronto entrepreneur Stuart Hyman, who breeds and also races a modest stable of thoroughbreds, Rapid Release was originally entered in a Keeneland sale as a weanling in 2006, but went unsold. Hyman had a $35,000 reserve on the horse, but bidding only reached $32,000. However, shortly thereafter, he sold the horse privately to Irish interests. He was sent to England, where he brought $75,000 Euros at the 2007 Goffs Yearling Sale, then was trained during his two-year-old campaign by Sir Mark Prescott.
* At the end of last year, his owners decided to sell him at the Tattersalls sale. And thus, Rapid Release eventually winds up at Woodbine, via Florida and Kentucky. He, along with Costalivin, has had more starts than any other Plate entrant, 11, seven of which were in England last year, mostly on the turf. But two of those outings came on all-weather surfaces, where he performed admirably, notching two runner-up finishes, hence the interest by Attfield about being a Plate prospect.
* After being sent to Attfield at Payson Park in Florida, Rapid Release made his North American debut at Keeneland on April 5, when he finished a closing fourth on the grass. He then shipped to Woodbine and finished third to Tiger Bud in a mile and one-sixteenth allowance contest over the Polytrack on April 26. Then Attfield did something very un-Roger-like. “I did something a little bit stranger than most people would do, but I ran him back in six days,” explained Attfield, “because I wanted to get to the (Plate) Trial and I wanted to learn something about him.” He finished a disappointing fifth in that route race on May 3.
* “We were trying to work out how he wanted to run and didn’t want to go from that race (on April 26) all the way to the Trial without seeing something else. And I saw something.”
* Next was the Plate Trial, where Rapid Release finished a closing third to Eye of the Leopard. “He ran a very good race and gave himself a slot into the Plate for sure off that race,” continued Attfield. “And he’s improved off that race immensely. He’s a small, compact chestnut, not overly big, and he’s been improving with everything we’ve done with him.”
* Last year, the Hall of Fame trainer tied Harry Giddings Jr. by saddling his eighth Plate winner…Not Bourbon. It was a masterful training (and riding) effort, since many believed that even though Not Bourbon had hung on to win the mile and one-eighth Plate Trial, the mile and one-quarter distance of the Plate would be his Achilles heel. “It was a tough deal last year, getting everything organized the right way for the right day.”
* What about this year, Roger? “I feel very good (about his chances), actually. This horse is coming along in leaps and bounds right now. His workout (on Wednesday, June 10) was unbelievable (five furlongs in 1:00-flat, breezing), and I let him gallop out…a big, happy gallop out. He will be very forwardly placed. He wasn’t very far off in his last race (Plate Trial), but farther off that we wanted him to be.”
Owner - Dolantori Racing (dolantoriracing.com)
Dolantori Racing is the nom de course for Californian David Mueller, although the stable is really named for his son, Dolan (15) and daughter Tori (11). His family lives in Visalia, near Fresno.
He owns a staffing help company, providing temporary employees to various businesses. Dolantori Racing’s current stable of 12 horses is based in southern California, either at Santa Anita or Hollywood Park. Their best horse to date was Genre, a Grade 3 winner at Hollywood Park (2006 Cinema Handicap), who was recently sold as a stallion to Canadian interests, starting next year.
The family also shows Quarter Horses. “We were actually at a Quarter Horse show the day of the Plate Trial, so we saw a replay of the race about an hour later.”
On his purchase of Rapid Release, Mueller explained, “We got a call from a bloodstock agent, saying there was a Canadian horse going through the (Tattersalls) sale, a two-year-old who might be a pretty good prospect. I think one of the reasons he was brought to our attention to purchase was because he had run on it (a synthetic surface) over there and we have synthetic surfaces in southern California, too.”
So, Dolantori bought him, but after being informed that Canadian trainer Roger Attfield was the under-bidder, wisely decided to turn the horse over to the Hall of Famer for a potential run at the ‘Gallop for the Guineas.”
Dolantori Racing also bought a Canadian-bred yearling several years ago called Town Thief, and raced him (as a maiden) in the Queenston Stakes (he finished third to Atlas Shrugs in 2006). “We left him in Canada, hoping to get to the Queen’s Plate, but realized he was a sprinter and wasn’t going to get the distance (of the Plate). We eventually brought him back to California (where he competed in claiming races).
Mueller plans to be at Woodbine on Plate day.
Trainer – Roger Attfield
One of Canada’s most accomplished horsemen, Roger Attfield has trained a record-tying eight Queen’s Plate winners (Norcliffe, 1976; Market Control, 1987; With Approval, 1989; Izvestia, 1990; Alydeed, 1992; Peteski, 1993; Regal Discovery, 1995; Not Bourbon, 2008). Three of them (With Approval, Izvestia and Peteski) went on to win Triple Crowns. He’s also won the Breeders’ Stakes, third leg in the Canadian Triple Crown, on seven occasions and the Oaks, Canada’s top race for three-year-old Canadian-bred fillies three times (Playlist, 1986; Plenty of Sugar, 1994, Capdiva, 1997).
He has also conditioned six Horses-of-the-Year. In addition to the Triple Crown winners, Norcliffe, Play the King and Alywow were also accorded that honour, among his numerous Sovereign Award winners.
The Nobleton resident has won scores of stakes at Woodbine during his 30+ years as a trainer and is a six-time (1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2002) Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s outstanding conditioner. In 1999, he was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Born November 18, 1939 in Newbury, England, Attfield was an accomplished show-jump rider and amateur steeplechase jockey before immigrating to Canada in 1970.
In 2000, he won 10 stakes, including three with Sovereign Award-winning juvenile filly Poetically, finishing with 42 wins (sixth place) and over $2.9 million in purses (second place). In 2003, Attfield saddled 23 winners, 99 top-three finishers and ranked tied for 15th in the standings, capturing the King Edward Breeders’ Cup Stakes with Perfect Soul for his lone stakes score on the campaign.
In 2005, Attfield saddled six stakes winners at Woodbine, including two with Palladio, who triumphed in the Ontario Derby and Victoria Park. Palladio also took the Ohio Derby and top three-year-old Sovereign honours. In 2006, Pellegrino gave him his 300th career stakes winner, in a year that saw the classy horseman rank 10th at the Toronto oval with 25 wins.
In 2008, Attfield had one of his best seasons ever, winning 12 stakes and over $4.5 million (a career high) in purses, highlighted by Not Bourbon’s campaign and other stakes winners Sand Cove and Callwood Dancer.
He is looking for his first Woodbine stakes win, but is the trainer of top turf horse Spice Route.
Jockey - Jono Jones
Born April 30, 1976 in Bridgetown, Barbados, Jono Jones received his apprentice riding licence in 1990. At 15, he won the United Derby on Overdraft, trained by his father. It was the first of four Derbies he would win before age 21.
He also rode in England for Sir Michael Stoute and galloped horses in France for Nicholas Clement. He won the Stallion Stakes twice. He was also the leading rider in Martinique in 1994 and 1995.
Jones arrived in Toronto from Barbados in May of 2001, after being leading rider there in 2000, a title he defended in 2001 while still competing at Woodbine. He made an immediate splash in his first full season here, with 56 wins and did just as well in 2002, winning 54 races.
The 2004 season proved a remarkable one for Jones. He and wife Sara celebrated the birth of their first child, Indy, (they also have twins, Slade and Tosh). Eleven days after they were born, he rode favored A Bit O’Gold to a second-place finish in the Queen’s Plate. That disappointment was somewhat erased by wins in the Prince of Wales and Breeders’ aboard the Plate runner-up and Sovereign winner as top male three-year-old.
The 2005 campaign was another fine one for Jones, as he partnered 2005 Horse of the Year A Bit O’Gold to win the Dominion Day, Chinese Cultural Centre and Sky Classic Stakes. He also teamed with Jambalaya to win the Breeders’ Stakes and the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga.
In 2006, he led Leonnatus Anteas to three stakes wins - Vandal, Cup & Saucer, Coronation Futurity - and Sovereign honours as Canada’s champion two-year-old colt. Jones won eight stakes in total, four on turf, one on the main track and three on the Polytrack.
In 2007, Jones recorded 11 Woodbine stakes scores, including two with Essential Edge (Canadian, Belle Geste). He ranked ninth overall in notching his seventh consecutive top 10 finish.
Last year, Jones won his first Queen’s Plate, teaming with Not Bourbon to take the 149th running of the Queen’s Plate. He also partnered the Roger Attfield trainee to wins in the Overskate, Plate Trial and Queenston Stakes, en route to champion three-year-old male Sovereign honours. Jones recorded 15 Woodbine stakes wins, tops among all riders, with other added-money wins coming in the Colin and Victoria with Southern Exchange and the Carotene and Ontario Colleen with Sugar Bay.
He recorded his first stakes tally of the 2009 meet this past Sunday with Saskawea in the Zadracarta.