Horse: Ablo
Post Position: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Jockey: Gerry Olguin

Trainer: Roger Attfield

Owners: Mickey and Phyllis Canino, Bill Werner and Roger Attfield

• "He's my kind of horse." That's the way Hall of Fame conditioner Roger Attfield describes Ablo, a bay colt that could give the trainer his record-tying eighth Queen's Plate victory this Sunday. And though he hasn't hit the winner's circle in his past four starts, the son of Lite the Fuse, who lit up the toteboard at 19-1 in taking last year's Coronation Futurity, comes into the 1 1/4-mile classic off a solid outing, second to stablemate Palladio in the Victoria Park Stakes on June 12.

• He's seen a boost in Beyers (Daily Racing Form speed rating) in four consecutive races, including a career-best 83 in the aforementioned Victoria Park, and an ability to come up with a grand effort when the odds suggest otherwise. Is Ablo ready and able to come up with the finest showing in his career this weekend at Woodbine? "He's a trier," praised Attfield, whose last Plate win came with Regal Discovery in 1995. "He always tries his best. He's a very genuine horse."

• And what of that Victoria Park effort, Mr. Attfield? "I was very happy with it. I really think if Palladio was a Canadian-bred, it would have been very exciting to see him in the Plate. He's a very nice horse.  Going into that race, I was confident that Ablo couldn't beat Palladio, but I needed to get a good race into Ablo. I was delighted with the way he ran and how he tried to tough it out against a horse that is better than him."

• "He's a very well conformed horse, nicely-balanced, good looking," said Attfield, of the 2003 yearling purchase, who was listed at 10-1 (fifth choice) in the 2005 Queen's Plate Winterbook. "That's why I bought him. He's always been very easy to be around, very easy to train."

• After two fourth-place finishes to launch his career, both at six furlongs, one on turf, the other on dirt, Ablo took back-to-back scores, a 1 1/4-length triumph at seven furlongs on October 21, followed by the 1 -length Coronation Futurity win. That's how the Ontario-bred finished his two-year-old campaign...on a winning note, times two. "As a two-year-old, his shins were always stinging him. That's what bothered him throughout his entire season. But he showed a fair bit of heart."

• He's consistent, too. With the exception of a seventh-place finish on April 8 at Keeneland to kick off his three-year-old campaign ("The track was deep and cuppy. He came out of it a little body sore."), Ablo has picked up a cheque in seven of his eight starts, including two runner-ups and a fifth in 2005.

• "He's gotten bigger and stronger," said Attfield, in reference to the most noticeable changes in Ablo from a two- to three-year-old. "His shins have settled down. So all that's behind him. He's a very happy horse. Every time he runs, he runs as good as he can."

• Heading into the Victoria Park, Attfield pondered the possibility of priming his pupil for the Plate. "I think 1 1/4-miles (Plate distance) would be questionable, but then again, I thought 1 1/8-miles was questionable, too. But he came through for us." Can he do it again on Sunday? Attfield, who finished fourth with Just In Case Jimmy in last year's Plate, has plenty of reason to hope so.
 

Owners - Mickey and Phyllis Canino, Bill Werner and Roger Attfield 

Bill Werner and Roger Attfield have successfully teamed on a number of stakes winners• Sweetest Thing, Free Vacation, Ten Flat and Muntej to name a few.

Sweetest Thing captured the 2001 Breeders' Stakes, taking the top prize of $300,000 for the victory, while Free Vacation did the same in 1999, a special triumph considering Laurie Gulas was in the irons, becoming the first woman to win the third jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown Series.

Werner, a resident of Chicago who is in the grain and corn business, has owned horses in partnership with both Attfield and Mickey Canino for the last nine years.  

Canino, a resident of New York City, had a Canadian-bred filly, Hey Hazel, whom he wanted to run at Woodbine.  A friend recommended Attfield as a Woodbine-based trainer for the filly and after developing Hey Hazel into a multiple stakes winner, Attfield has since trained many horses for Canino. Attfield and Canino, who is in the fish wholesale business, have developed a friendship over the years and own several horses in partnership.

Attfield, Werner and Canino teamed to finish third in the 2000 Plate with For Our Sake. 

Trainer - Roger Attfield 

Roger Attfield is one of Canada's most accomplished horsemen.  He has trained seven Queen's Plate winners (Norcliffe, 1976; Market Control, 1987; With Approval, 1989; Izvestia, 1990; Alydeed, 1992; Peteski, 1993; Regal Discovery, 1995).   Three of them (With Approval, Izvestia and Peteski) went on to win Triple Crowns.   He's also won the Breeders' Stakes, the third leg in the Canadian Triple Crown, on seven occasions.

He has 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 40 Sovereign Award winners to date.

The Nobleton resident has won scores of stakes at Woodbine (62 since 1995) 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 Canada's 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 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 2002, he led all Woodbine trainers in purse earnings, with over $4.1 million, while ranking third with 55 wins.  In 2001, he won 50 races (third place) and over $3.3 million in purse earnings (second place).   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).

Last year, Attfield had his 'young guns' firing on all cylinders, including South Bay Cove, who took the Ontario Debutante and Shady Well Stakes, and was second in balloting to Simply Lovely as Canada's Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Just In Case Jimmy gave Attfield his other added-money score, capturing the Elgin Stakes.

During the winter, Attfield spends the off-season at his home and training centre in Payson Park, Florida. 

Jockey - Gerry Olguin 

Gerry Olguin began riding in 1988 at Aqua Caliente when he was only 15, before moving on to ride as an apprentice in California, prior to competing at Hastings Park where he was a regular until 1999.

He won the Hastings riders championship in both 1997 and 1998, finishing second in 1999 to Sovereign Award apprentice Ben Russell, winning more than 1,200 races before celebrating his 27th birthday. Olguin believes the best horse he has ever ridden was Mike K, who finished second to Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Budroyale.

Olguin decided to move his wife, Robin, and son, Kai, to Toronto late in 1999 in order to ride full-time at Woodbine. The decision looked good in only his first month in Ontario as Olguin won 10 races in November of 1999. He continued his momentum in 2000 capturing 54 wins for an 11th place finish  in the rider standings and then collected 42 wins in 2001, earning more than $1.8 million in purse money. In 2001, he won two stakes, scoring with Jade Eyed in the Nandi and Queensgate in the Valedictory. His Valedictory win was a memorable upset over heavy race favourite A Fleets Dancer. The King City resident rode his 10,000th mount on Woodbine's final day, winning the Valedictory in race number 10,001.

Olguin tied for 15th in the standings in 2002, an improvement of three spots from 2001, notching 38 wins and $2,095,415 in purse earnings. In 2003, everything was looking up for Olguin, a year in which he ranked 12th in wins (49) and topped his previous high in purses with $2,354,584.

Last year was a solid season for Olguin, whose biggest win came in the Coronation Futurity on November 13 with Ablo. He also topped the $2-million mark in purse earnings for the third consecutive year and fourth in the past five campaigns, recording 41 wins at the Toronto oval, including 26 sprints and 15 routes.

Olguin suffered a bruised chest cavity and collarbone after a morning training accident late in the season, sidelining him for the duration of the year. He also won stakes at two other racetracks, Bold Arctic Ice in Fort Erie's Rainbow Connection and the Grade 3 Lt. Governors at Hastings Park with Royal Place.

He has 11 wins so far in 2005 (through Saturday, June 18), including a Eclipse Stakes victory aboard Honolua Storm