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

Jockey: Corey Fraser

Trainer: Alec Fehr

Owners: Knob Hill Stable

• It's the perfect Hollywood script: a high-profile owner, a talented trainer who has had tough luck in past Plate experiences, a hard-knocking horse and a rising star rider. Can the team of Steve Stavro, Alec Fehr, Granique and Corey Fraser come up with a summer blockbuster on Sunday? "It is a good story, now we just have to have the proper ending," said Fehr, who lost the services of his other 2005 Plate prospect, Atanas, after a season-ending injury in the Plate Trial.

• Time for a quick history lesson. It was Alexander The Great who defeated the satraps of minor Asia in the Battle of Granique in 334 B.C., a victory accomplished through meticulous planning and an organized cavalry. Fast-forward to modern times and it's 'Alec The Great' looking for victory in the "Gallop for the Guineas." Does he have the warrior to accomplish the feat?

• "What I liked about him as a yearling was his cold stare," said Fehr, of the $46,696 (U.S.) purchase at Woodbine in 2003. "He's got a mean look to him. He'll look through you and he'll walk right over you. He doesn't have any friends and he doesn't want any friends - that kind of look. He'll strike at you, he'll kick you - he'll do anything. That's what he does. I went into his stall to check him out a few times and he gets on his hind legs and wants to box with you. That's what I like about him."

• But that's not all to like, according to Fehr, when it comes to the son of Mutakddim. "He's gotten over his greenness. He's figured it out. He's still a very playful horse and I don't want to take that away from him. I want him to be happy. He's learned the business."

• After a lacklustre career bow on November 6, a ninth-place finish at six furlongs, the colt finished second to 2005 Victoria Park Stakes champion Palladio over a sloppy main strip on November 28, Granique's final race of 2004. His three-year-old debut was a reasonable fifth-place effort on April 23. Two weeks later, the Ontario-bred broke his maiden, a two-length score at 1 1/16-miles.

• Granique heads into the Plate off a second-place finish, albeit 12-lengths in arrears of Accountforthegold. "The plan was to ease back off the early fractions," said Fehr, of the race that earned his pupil a 75 Beyer (Daily Racing Form speed rating). "The early fractions were pretty quick and we were on the inside. We didn't want to be there. He runs a lot better on the outside. Even in his morning works, he doesn't like being on the inside. It would have been nice to get outside and he could eye them and then run at them. He did a lot of running from the five-sixteenths pole."

• The silver lining? Granique once again showed he doesn't like to go down without a fight. "What I like about him is that he won't quit. I think he's a very tough horse. We have him incredibly sound. He's landing properly, he's pushing off evenly. Everything is coming together for this race. I think they're going to have to run to beat him."

• "He's a fighter. If he hooks up with horses at the three-eighths pole, he's going to win the battle. I'm not worried about that. He'll win the fight to the wire. We want to be close enough to the pace when others start making their runs."

• Having the services of Woodbine's leading rider and last year's Top Apprentice in Canada certainly won't hinder Granique's chances come Sunday. And even though they've never been paired together in a race, Corey Fraser and Granique appear to be on the same page. "Corey worked him for the first time and said that he wasn't expecting that type of horse underneath him. What he had read and heard - that Granique was a bit green - was untrue. The horse picked up the bit right from the start and knew what he was doing. Corey was very happy with him."

• So after the heartbreak of having Atanas unable to compete and the tragedy of losing hopeful Rockfield after a training accident just days before the 2003 Plate, the connections of Granique are hoping for a little racing luck and a big payday in Canada's most famous horse race.

Owner - Knob Hill Stable

Steve Stavro is one of Canada's best-known entrepreneurs, even after he retired in 2003 as Chairman, Governor and owner of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Born September 27, 1927, in Gabresh, Macedonia, Stavro came to Canada with his family as a nine-year-old and grew up in east-end Toronto. He eventually got involved in the food business, starting with a tiny fruit and vegetable stand, then, over time, built the now-defunct Knob Hill Farms into a successful Toronto-area food store chain and warehouse.

His Knob Hill Stable started modestly, but grew into one of the country's most successful racing operations. The glory years came in the 1990's. In 1992, Knob Hill Stable won nine stakes, topping the owners list and, from just 94 starters, earned $1,894,248, second only to Sam-Son Farm. The star of the stable was Benburb, named Canada's Horse-of-the-Year and champion three-year-old that season. The son of Dr. Carter pulled off major upsets in the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, defeating Queen's Plate winner Alydeed and in the Molson Export Million, handing eventual Breeders' Cup winner A.P. Indy a shocking defeat. Stavro, as well, was honoured with Sovereign Awards that year as Outstanding Owner and Breeder.

In 1993, his filly Apelia was voted a Sovereign Award as top sprinter. In 1999, Thornfield carried the Knob Hill colours to an upset win in the Canadian International, scoring at 17-1 and going on to Top Male Turfer and Canadian Horse of the Year honours.

Since then, though, Stavro has dispersed most of his broodmare and racing stock, including the speedy stakes-winning filly Saoirse, winner of a Sovereign Award in 2000 as Canada's top older filly/mare. However, he still owns a large farm near Bowmanville, Ontario.

In 2002, Knob Hill banked more than $460,000, winning four races from only 36 starts. Chopinina earned almost half of that from her second place finish to Good Journey in the Atto Mile, a performance which earned her a Sovereign Award as Canada's Top Female Turfer.

In 2003, Chopinina (Royal North Stakes) and Time of War (Sir Barton Stakes) gave Knob Hill their two added-money scores on the campaign, a year in which the stable recorded $740,784 in purse earnings.

In 2004, Knob Hill Stable won 11 races from 88 starters, bankrolling $565,037.

Trainer - Alec Fehr

Born February 3, 1967 in Mexico, Alec Fehr came to Canada with his family at the age of 12, and eventually wound up the racetrack after working for his father for several years. He first started with Bob Anderson of Anderson Farms in St. Thomas, Ontario, then was employed by Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield for a number of years.

After acquiring his trainer's licence in 1994, he formed a public stable and saddled his first winner, Onoro, only his seventh starter. In 1999, he conditioned Salty Note, his first stakes winner who scored in the Valedictory Stakes and then two other added-money events in Maryland.

Fehr enjoyed a career year in 2000, winning 28 races (tied for 11th) and over $1 million in purses, when Bruno Schickedanz was one of his major clients.

After a quiet 2001 campaign, Fehr assumed the conditioning reins of Knob Hill Stable, comprised mostly of juveniles or lightly-raced horses. Fehr's stable earned over $440,000 in 2002 from only four wins, but it was Chopinina's second-place finish in the Atto Mile which built the bankroll.

The Hillsburgh, Ontario resident has continued to flourish as a private trainer over the past three seasons, including a solid 2003, a year in which Fehr saddled nine winners and 23-top three finishers, good enough for $740,784 in purse earnings. The average win payout for a Fehr winner was a healthy $18.66.

In 2004, Fehr runners reached the winner's circle 11 times, as he topped his previous year's win and top-three totals, by two and 12, respectively.

Jockey - Corey Fraser

Corey Fraser, who captured a Sovereign Award as Canada's Top Apprentice, was money-in-the-bank in 2004, his first full season at the races, a year in which the highly-touted rider racked up 66 wins (ranking eighth at Woodbine) and $2.35-million in purse earnings. He received 259 Sovereign votes, 157 more than his closest rival, in winning his first major racing trophy.

He teamed with longshot Velvet Snow to take the Ontario Damsel Stakes on July 10 at the Toronto oval, one of many smart rides from Fraser. He ranked eighth overall in the Woodbine standings, boasted 183 top-three finishes and had three stakes-placed rides as well at Woodbine, Solihull (Valedictory), Velvet Snow (Carotene) and Dillinger (Shepperton). His allowance winners included Believe in Missy, Highland Presence, Vegas Venture and Oriental Doll. The Ontario native was sidelined for five weeks after cracking a finger in an on-track spill.

Fraser won his first career race on November 9, 2003, at the Toronto oval, aboard the John Charalambous trainee Angel In Tights, paying $20.50 for the victory. Two of his three wins came in sprints in 2003.

The 28-year-old rode quarter horses at Picov, before progressing to Thoroughbred race-riding. He grew up in the Davisville area of Toronto, before he moved to Niagara Falls with his mother, Susan, when he was 12. Fraser also played rugby in high school.