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

Jockey: Jim McAleney

Trainer: Reade Baker

Owners: Harlequin Ranches

• After an impressive 3 1/2-length win in the June 12 Labatt Woodbine Oaks, three-year-old filly Gold Strike will compete against the country's best Canadian-bred colts in Sunday's 1 _-mile Queen's Plate, her second ever co-ed assignment and much tougher than the 15-_-length beating she handed fellow Manitoba-breds in the $41,000 Buffalo Stakes at Assiniboia Downs (Winnipeg) on September 26.

• When assessing Gold Strike's Plate prospects, it's important to note that the $1-million event isn't just a post-Oaks afterthought. Since the filly's win in the Selene, trainer Reade Baker charted a course for the Harlequin Ranches charge that would include the Oaks and Plate. The game plan has come together beautifully. "You always make those plans," said Baker. "Typically, they don't turn out for one reason or another. Usually, the horses run out of talent along the way. In this case, we had the talent. We had everything."

• Using her gift of speed, class and consistency, Gold Strike, who has the most wins (four, all stakes) and most earnings ($542,242) of any runner in the Plate field, seeks to follow in the hoofprints of Flaming Page, La Lorgnette, Dance Smartly and Dancethruthedawn, the only four fillies to ever perform the Oaks-Plate two-step.

• "I was really confident that we were going places when I got the Ragozin sheet numbers on her because she compares favorably with the best three-year-old fillies in America. She's vastly superior to the ones that ran last year."

• 'Ragozin sheets' are an alternative rating system, incorporating factors like trip and weight into a horse's performance, not just time and relative speed of the racetrack. The lower the number, the better the rating. "She ran a six. She's run three sixes in a row. It's the same kind of line Giacomo had coming into the (Kentucky) Derby. Is there a bounce in the offing? After running three 'sixes' in a row, I would have to say no. If she had dipped down to a four or three, I would be really nervous. If she runs a six again, I think she wins the Plate."

• Baker says Gold Strike, who was a May 15 $15,000 supplemental nomination to the Plate, responded well to the Oaks experience. "You hear this phrase all the time, 'she came out of it better than she goes in,' but she actually might have. (Jockey) Jim (McAleney) galloped her two days later. I don't think she's ever been that tough."

• Interesting body language, considering Baker felt the filly showed fatigue finishing up the 1 1/8-mile Oaks, after reviewing the video. "She looked really tired coming home in the Oaks. She doesn't show that right now."

• With ample pace for the fleet filly to target, the Oaks ended up being a slightly easier trip for Gold Strike compared to the Selene, where McAleney opted to use her early. "Because there was speed in the race, we didn't have to use her to go get anybody early," adds Baker. "She's got tactical turn speed. That's a huge thing. When he (McAleney) wants her to go, she responds. She doesn't have to get long and prolonged, which some horses who run in races that long are like. When he wanted her to jump on Lemon Maid (in the Selene), she was right on top of her in a heartbeat. It's up to him when he's going to pull the trigger. He's got one that works."

• As for the challenge of replicating her outstanding Oaks triumph on two weeks rest, Baker points at her size and temperament. "She's a big, good filly. Whenever we've done anything to her there's never been a single day where she didn't eat up. That's half the battle right there. You get a non-eater, it's a delicate thing and you have to plan everything perfectly."

• "I think the 'name' horses we're talking about won't be on the lead. There will always be somebody to volunteer. Big races like this you'll have some horses in there that are longshots who figure that there's no speed in the race and they'll try to steal it on the lead. Hopefully they'll volunteer and do the job Bosskiri did (in the Oaks)."

• Gold Strike will be the second horse (Classic Mike, 2002, finished eighth) Baker has saddled that is by Smart Strike, a stallion he considers world-class. "She's by an exceptional sire that, of course, got Eye of the Sphynx last year and one good horse after another. They're not commercial horses, but they can really run. They grass, they route, they do it all."

Owner - Harlequin Ranches

Canadian publishing executive Richard Bonnycastle founded Harlequin Publishing in 1949. In its early years, the company published American and British paperbacks, concentrating on mysteries, Westerns and cookbooks. However, in 1957, Harlequin bought the North American rights from Mills & Boon, a major British publisher of romance fiction since 1909.

Bonnycastle=s wife Mary, a Winnipeg socialite, was quoted as saying, Athese nice little books with happy endings, when referring to the apparent popularity of romance novels and urged her husband=s company to concentrate on them as a core business. Thus, the fairy tale success story of Harlequin began in earnest in 1964, when it began to exclusively publish paperback romance fiction. Five years later, the company went >public=. In 1971 Harlequin bought Mills & Boon and began a world-wide expansion that would see the company=s books launched in Australia in 1974, Holland in 1975, West Germany a few years later, then Japan and mainland China in 1995.

Harlequin Enterprises was sold in 1977 and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian communications giant Torstar Corporation, publisher of Canada=s largest daily newspaper, the Toronto Star. Last year, Harlequin sold more than 160 million books worldwide, in 100 international markets, in more than 23 languages.

Bonnycastle, who sits on the board of many corporations and was a former member (1982-84) of the
Board of Trustees of the Ontario Jockey Club, has been involved in thoroughbred racing for over 30 years, campaigning stock not only in Ontario but also at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, Northlands in Edmonton and Stampede Park in Calgary, where he now lives.

In the past few years at Woodbine, Harlequin Ranches has raced stakes winners such as Caught Out, Celestialbutterfly, Miss Noire and Miss Crissy, all fillies, in addition to his current stars Bosskiri, in which he owns a two-thirds interest, and Gold Strike, the winner of the Labatt Woodbine Oaks. He also co-owns a three-year-old filly named Three Degrees, who is currently campaigning in California.
Back in the 1970's, one of Bonnycastle=s best horses was a colt, the multiple stakes-winning Nice Dancer, which he co-owned with Tom Morton.

Trainer - Reade Baker

So, how did Reade Baker celebrate his victory in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks, his first classic win, as a trainer? "I drank a lot of champagne and I went out to dinner with my wife. It was perfect."
Baker is enjoying the best year of his career in 2005. If running five in this year's Oaks doesn't say enough about his monopoly over the three-year-old filly division, take note that the veteran trainer pulled off his own Win-4, sweeping the first four added-money stakes on the sophomore filly calendar - the Oaks (Gold Strike), the Selene (Gold Strike), the Fury (River Nore) and the Lady Angela (Bosskiri). No other trainer has pulled off such a feat.

Baker has won 10 races from 66 starters and tops the standings in earnings, with $1,327,474, which is ahead of perennial leaders Bob Tiller, Sid Attard and Mark Frostad (through June 18).
In 2004, for the second year in a row, the 58-year-old native of Port Dalhousie, topped the $2.5 million mark in purse earnings ($2,545,408), finishing fifth overall in the trainer standings with 40 wins. It was also the sixth consecutive year that Baker=s horses had earned in excess of $1 million and came on the heels of an excellent 2003 campaign of 44 wins (sixth place) and $2,546,316 in purses.

Last year, his season was highlighted by Slew Valley=s wins in the Connaught Cup and King Edward Breeders= Cup, Touchnow=s upset of Eye of the Sphynx in the Bison City Stakes at Fort Erie and Bosskiri=s win in the Nandi. His 2003 campaign was highlighted by stakes winners Silver Bird (Glorious Song) and Hour of Justice (Alywow),

In 2002, his stable generated over $1.8 million, as his 38 wins tied him for ninth amongst trainers. In 2001, he won 23 races, good enough for 14th overall. In 2000, he won three stakes, 23 races and almost $1.4 million in purses, while in 1999, his first year in >millionaire=s row,= he won 26 races, two Woodbine stakes and the Bison City Stakes with Synchronized.

With more than 34 years in the sport, Baker has successfully tried many facets of the game...as a jockey=s agent for Gary Stahlbaum from 1977-84, as racing manager for Rick Kennedy from 1984-89, when he campaigned champion Afleet, as a breeder, as an owner and, for the past 15 years, as a trainer. Amongst the horses he has bred are Mysteriously, a stakes-winning filly who earned $659,000 for Frank Stronach from 1994-96 and stakes winner, Tuxedo Landing.

In 1994, Baker won a then career-high 41 races as a trainer after a breakthrough 1993 season, with 22 wins. He saddled his first Queen=s Plate horse, Barron Road in 1994. Other stakes winners over the years include Honoured One, his first Oaks starter who finished 10th to Capdiva in 1997, Muskrat Sammy, Annihilate, Wait for Silence, Brock Street, Sir Lloyd, Synchronized and Gonetofarr.
While managing the Rick Kennedy operation in the 1980=s, the stable=s One From Heaven captured the 1987 Canadian Oaks.

The Weston resident also breeds award-winning exotic chickens and ducks as a hobby and has a website (readebaker.com).

Jockey - B Jim McAleney

Gold Strike's Labatt Woodbine Oaks win rates as a career highlight for journeyman Jim McAleney, who celebrated his first victory in the important race. If the filly were to double up in the Queen's Plate, another classic the jockey has yet to win, it would cap off a career month.

The last three years have proven to be three of the best seasons Jim McAleney has enjoyed since he first began riding in 1986. In 2004, he won 109 races (third overall) and over $5.8 million in purses. Among his seven stakes wins at Woodbine were two aboard Slew Valley (Connaught and King Edward Breeders Cup). He also notched his 1,500th career win aboard Seattle Rosa on August 12th at Woodbine and guided the Sid Attard-trainee Organ Grinder to victory in the Canadian Derby at Northlands Park in Edmonton in August.

In 2003, McAleney won 112 races, fourth behind Todd Kabel, with purse earnings in excess of $6.6 million. Both numbers eclipsed his 2002 highs of 106 wins and $5.7 million. He also won eight stakes races, highlighted by a win in the Grey Breeders= Cup aboard Smoocher.

Born August 15, 1969 in Fort St. John, British Columbia, McAleney won his first race in 1986 at Northlands Park in Edmonton. He was the leading rider in Alberta the following year, then came east to capture the Greenwood Fall meet title. Those accomplishments earned him a Sovereign Award as Canada=s top apprentice for 1987 as he won 160 races, ranking fifth in North America.
He successfully defended his title in 1988, winning a second Sovereign as the nation=s top apprentice. In 1989, he was the regular pilot of Mr. Hot Shot, Canada=s champion sprinter. Fast forward to 1995, when he won 98 races, good for fourth place and over $2.4 million in purses.
After relatively modest 1997 and 1998 campaigns, McAleney returned to prominence in 1999, ranking 12th with 59 wins (including four stakes) and $1.9 million in purses.

In 2000, he rode 54 winners to $2.6 million in purses, including two stakes and a second place finish aboard I And I in the Queen=s Plate. In 2001, he won 56 races, ranking 11th with $2.8 million in purses. Among his four stakes wins were the Breeders= Stakes and Wonder Where aboard filly Sweetest Thing.

The 2002 season was a dream one for >Jimmy Mac,= as he finished fifth overall, posting career-best marks in several categories, including nine stakes wins and $5,747,948 in purse earnings. McAleney teamed with Mort Hardy=s Anglian Prince for a highly successful campaign, including a narrow loss in the Queen=s Plate and a third in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.

Heading into this year, McAleney sported career totals of 1,566 wins (1,191 at Woodbine) and over $46 million in purses. Currently, he is fifth in wins (24) and first in earnings ($1,902,013) through June 18, with four stakes victories to his credit.