Horse: King of Jazz
Post Position: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Jockey: Rafael Bejarano

Trainer: Carl Nafzger

Owners: Buckram Oak Farm

• This could be the year of the 'Bison'…meaning Manitoba-bred, for not one, not two, but three Manitobans are taking a shot in the $1 million Queen's Plate, Canada's most famous horse race, Sunday at Woodbine.

• Of the three (Gold Strike and Get Down are the others), only King of Jazz hasn't been seen locally by race fans, at least in the flesh. No Manitoba-bred (Lord Fairmond was second in 1948) has won the 'Gallop for the Guineas' but two Alberta-breds have got the job done…Whistling Sea (1965) and Merger (1968). Then again, no Manitoba-bred had won the Labatt Woodbine Oaks either until Gold Strike did it on June 12. And like Gold Strike, King of Jazz was supplemented to the Plate for $15,000 on May 15.

• The three-year-old son of K One King has raced at Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park and Keeneland in his brief, five-race career and has never been worse than third. "He's been very consistent, very honest," said Ian Wilkes, assistant to trainer Carl Nafzger. "He's a useful Canadian-bred, he fits in there, I think he belongs there. He's pretty versatile. He's a good horse. He doesn't have to have his racetrack. He can run over anything, any type of surface."

• King of Jazz comes into the Plate on a two-race win streak. And his last was a real solid effort, as the bay gelding won a mile and one-eighth allowance contest in 1:50 2/5 seconds by a comfortable two lengths, recording a 96 Beyer (Daily Racing Form speed rating) in the process. Of the Plate starters, only Gold Strike has generated a higher Beyer (97 in the Selene Stakes, May 22) in any career start.

• Bred by Stonyfield Farm in Manitoba, King of Jazz wound up at the Ocala Breeders Sale for two-year-olds in training in February of 2004 and was purchased by Buckram Oak Farm for $40,000 US.

• "We gelded him last year. He was just too big, too heavy. He was carrying too much excess weight," continued Wilkes.

• The former colt finally made his career debut last November at Churchill Downs and finished a closing third ('Up rail, gaining late', says the Daily Racing Form note) over six and one-half furlongs. Nafzger then started him in February at Gulfstream in a seven furlong maiden event, where he finished third again, but a good third after a rough trip, 'bobbling at the break and checked at the half.'

• Next up was a one mile maiden contest, March 27 when he finished second to Plate rival Three in the Bag, a length and one-quarter back, after leading for most of the trip. King of Jazz finally broke his maiden impressively, by three one-quarter lengths at Keeneland, April 22 in a mile and one-eighth event before his swift May 25 allowance tally. He's also worked well since, with a :59 1/5 five furlong tightener on June 17.

• "He just took his time coming around," said Wilkes. "We never push them. We take our time. They come around when they're ready. He just took a little longer to come around, which was fine because he was just a big round colt and hadn't developed yet. Now he's grown up and getting taller. He's starting to come into his frame now. He's quite a big horse, quite tall. He's pretty laid back, nothing bothers him."

• On the Plate distance, "I don't think that (the distance) will be a problem. I think he wants to run all day. I think this horse will rate, do whatever (jockey) Rafael (Bejarano) wants to do. If there's no speed, he can be anywhere. If there's speed, he can rate."

• So, when King of Jazz swings into the stretch in the Plate, the horse's first stakes race, wouldn't it be music to the ears of his connections if he hits the high note and goes on to win it. "Wouldn't it• " said Wilkes.

Owner - Buckram Oak Farm

Buckram Oak Farm is owned by Lebanon-born Mahmoud Fustok, a Saudi diplomat based in Washington, DC, with real estate and oil interests in Saudi Arabia. Educated in the United States (University of Oklahoma), Fustok has been in the thoroughbred business for over 25 years, after purchasing some Lexington, Kentucky farmland in 1978 and transforming it into Buckram Oak Farm.

Buckram has raced horses in the Kentucky Derby (Law Talk in 1983; Star Gallant in 1992) and well as several in the Breeders' Cup in the 1980's and 1990's. In the last few years, the stable stars have been Silver Wagon, Eurosilver, Najran and Last Song.

Silver Wagon, trained by Ralph Ziadie, recently finished second in the Met Mile at Belmont Park to the now retired Ghostzapper and won the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga as a two-year-old, while Eurosilver was an early favourite for the 2004 Kentucky Derby before being sidelined. He won the Skip Away Stakes at Gulfstream this past April and was second to Saint Liam in Saturday's Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Fustok's best horse overseas was Green Forest, a two-time French champion who won six Group 1 races in 1981-82.

Earlier this year, Buckram Oak Farm was sold, for a reported $17 million, to Jess Jackson (Kendall-Jackson Winery), who subsequently renamed it Stonestreet Farm.

Trainer - Carl Nafzger

Born August 29, 1941 in Plainview, Texas, Carl Nafzger grew up on a farm near Olton, Texas, where, as a young man in his early 20's, he competed on the rodeo circuit, eventually qualifying for the national finals in bull-riding on three occasions.

He quit the rodeo circuit (which involved travelling about 80,000 miles a year in a 10-month season) in 1967, then acquired his trainer's licence in 1968, the same year he got married.
Nafzger and wife Wanda then began a public stable, working together, doing their own grooming, shodding, etc. He saddled his first stakes winner, Speedy Karen in the Fiesta Derby Handicap at Sante Fe Downs in 1971, then became associated with Tartan Stable president and trainer John Nerud, whom he credits as a mentor.

Undoubtedly, Nafzger's best horse to date was the late Unbridled, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic in 1990, en route to an Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old colt. Nafzger also earned an Eclipse Award that season as the nation's outstanding trainer. Another Eclipse Award winner was Banshee Breeze, a daughter of Unbridled, who won the Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama and Spinster on her way to the 1998 three-year-old filly championship. Other top runners for Nafzger have included Westerly Breeze, Unshaded, Home At Last, Vicar, Mayo on the Side, Solvig and Binalong.

Nafzger, who ranks in the top trainers at Keeneland for all-time stakes wins, currently trains a 40-horse public stable, campaigning in Kentucky, Florida and New York. He's won 20 races and over $920,000 in purses so far this year. He's also an author, having written "Traits of a Winner: the Formula for Developing Thoroughbred Racehorses."

Jockey - B Rafael Bejarano

Young Rafael Bejarano has exploded onto the North American racing scene in the last two years. Born June 23, 1982 in Arequipa, Peru (the homeland of Jorge Chavez and Edgar Prado), Bejarano attended The Jockey School of Peru, then began his apprenticeship at Hippodromo de Monterrico in December of 1999, as a 17-year-old, where he would eventually win the apprentice title that season.

In the spring of 2002, Bejarano immigrated to the United States after the suggestion by one of Peru's leading trainers, Dante Zanelli Sr., and first began to work at River Downs Racetrack, where he would win his first race on the continent several months later.

Since then, his success has been astounding, as Bejarano has joined the nation's leaders in wins and money, while competing essentially on the Kentucky circuit at Churchill Downs, Turfway Park and Ellis Park, where he has been leading rider at several meetings. The Louisville resident finished the 2003 season with 260 wins (ninth to Ramon Dominguez) and over $4.9 million in purses.

But last year was simply sensational, as Bejarano led all riders in North America with 455 wins, outdistancing Dominguez (383) and was an Eclipse Award finalist. He was also eighth to John Velazquez on the money list with over $12.2 million. Among his stakes winners were Colonial Colony (Stephen Foster), Consolidator (Breeders' Futurity), Runway Model (Alcibiades), Champali and Sir Shackleton. He also rode Runway Model to third place in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies and Consolidator to a fourth place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

This year, he has continued to excel, currently second to Velazquez with over $6.2 million in earnings and third to Russell Baze, with 139 victories through June 15. He rode in the Kentucky Derby for the first time, finishing eighth aboard Andromeda's Hero but came back to finish second with him to Afleet Alex in the Belmont Stakes.

Bejarano, who will be making his Woodbine debut, moved his tack to New York just for the 2004-2005 winter meeting and promptly won the rider title at Aqueduct's inner track.