The Road to the Queen's Plate, 2011 Version!

Inglorious wins the Oaks

Oaks day is one of those 'must' trips to the track for me. With the Plate Trial on the undercard, it's become a Queen's Plate preview. In Canada it's not unusual to see fillies in the Plate, and we've had such strong Oaks winners in recent years, some of the girls have been showing up to give the boys a run for the money on the big day.

Check Your Soul, easy Plate Trial victor

In fact, winterbook favourite for the Plate this year is a filly. Inglorious didn't disappoint her supporters in the Oaks yesterday, winning easily, and I suspect there's a good chance we'll see her in the Plate. The Trial winner was Check Your Soul, and he was very impressive, galloping away effortlessly from the rest of the field under an, ahem, one-hand ride. I love his sire, Perfect Soul, so it's wasn't hard for me to like this guy!

Meanwhile, back on the farm, the little ones continue to grow, and we continue to dream about their futures. You never know!

Polly wanna win the Oaks? ;-)

A Busy Barnyard - I Mean, Studio!

I had two paintings on the go today - one of which I finished. Being Wednesday, I completed the next painting of Jubie's baby (who you'll hear me calling Jubaby for reference only!). You had a little preview of my reference shot last week, and above is the resulting 6 x 8 oil on Raphael linen panel.

My other painting is also a small one - 5 x 7 - and also a baby, but a different species. I'm painting a little Galloway calf. He's not finished yet, so you'll have to wait a while to see him.

Sunday was a big day at Woodbine - both the Canadian Oaks and Plate Trial Stakes. It's just about time for me to do some Plate Preview paintings, so I went to get some pics for that. Looks like the fillies may be well represented again this year. I think we're due a filly winning the Plate!

Roan Inish out-games Moment of Majesty to take the Oaks.

Three Weeks to Plate Day!

Eye of the Leopard

Having the best horse a week before Plate Day didn’t mean a single thing — it came right down to the day itself...

Southdale

I'm quoting myself above, a line I wrote for a story about a horse on that long road to the Queen's Plate. Today, we're three weeks – twenty-one days – from the 150th running of the longest continually run sporting event in North America: the 'Gallop for the Guineas' ...or, fifty gold sovereigns, and about a million dollars, these days. The Plate Trial was run today at Woodbine, as well as a maiden race with a few Plate hopefuls. It's not unheard of for a maiden to win the Plate, hence my recall of those words above. The horse that yesterday might have been the favourite most likely will not be, come Plate Day. And everyone knows the favourite doesn't always win!

El Brujo

The Trial was won by a gorgeous horse with an equally beautiful pedigree: Eye of the Leopard, owned by Sam-Son Farms. He caught second choice Southdale for the win, while favourite El Brujo disappointed to be ninth in a ten-horse field.


In that maiden race, we cheered on another Plate prospect, who ran out of room and missed his first victory by a whisker. Will he be among the starters in the big race on June 21? He could have used that extra eighth of a mile today!

Tomorrow, I begin my third Thirty Horses, Thirty Days, and part of my motivation for getting to the track today was to take photos so I can paint the Plate hopefuls leading up to the race. We'll see if I cover all the bases, or if someone else altogether comes through in the end!