Sun Jun 24 22:32:02 2007

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Mike Fox captures 148th Queen's Plate

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Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Mike Fox, ridden by Emma-Jayne Wilson, overtook Alezzandro in deep stretch to win Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine Racecourse. The victory made Wilson the first female jockey to capture Canada's preeminent thoroughbred event.

The Queen's Plate is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. The second leg is the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at 1 3/16 miles on July 15 at Fort Erie, and the final jewel is the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on the grass on August 5 at Woodbine.

Eight Canadian-bred three-year-olds went postward for the 1 1/4 mile race. Leonnatus Anteas, last year's champion two-year-old in Canada, was scratched from the Queen's Plate because of an infection of the pastern, which is the area in the leg right above the hoof.

Setting the pace around the first turn and into the backstretch was Alezzandro. Mike Fox was second followed by Twilight Meteor and Daaher. Alezzandro continued to lead up the backstretch with Twilight Meteor, Mike Fox and Daaher pressing the pace.

With a half-mile to run Plate Trial winner Jiggs Coz moved into second behind Alezzandro. Coming out of the final turn Alezzandro still had the lead with Jiggs Coz second and Mike Fox in third about three lengths back.

At the furlong pole Alezzandro appeared to be on his way to victory over Jiggs Coz, the favorite. Mike Fox was still trailing by four lengths.

Down the stretch Mike Fox split the two in front of him and took the lead right before the wire. Mike Fox registered a half-length victory over Alezzandro with Jiggs Coz finishing third.

Rounding out the order of finish for the Queen's Plate was Daaher, Include Us, Marchfield, Twilight Meteor and Cobrador.

The time for the 148th Queen's Plate was 2:05.45.

The Queen's Plate win marked the first stakes victory for Mike Fox and the initial Queen's Plate win for owner D. Morgan Firestone and trainer Ian Black.

"These are tougher horses than he faced last time out," said Black. "The 1 1/4 distance, he's bred to go that far and he's trained that way, but until they do it, you never know if they will. He's a grand-looking horse. He's got some idiosyncrasies, but with maturity, that will get better. Down the line, I'm hoping he would get a little more relaxed."

The bay colt has now won four of eight career starts, the last two with Wilson. Sunday's win was worth $600,000 to bring the three-year-old's earnings to $735,014.

Mike Fox returned $32.40, $13.10 and $5.00. Alezzandro paid $16.30 and $5.60, and Jiggs Coz paid $2.40 to show.