Queen’s Plate in Casse’s sights again

TORONTO — Saddling multiple horses in the $1-million Queen’s Plate is nothing new for Mark Casse, but he’s bringing major firepower to this year’s race.

Canada’s top trainer an unprecedented 10 times, Casse will send three horses postward Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack, including Telekinesis (5/2 early favourite) and filly Wonder Gadot (3/1 second pick). Casse also remains bullish on Neepawa, a 15/1 longshot that will be ridden by Breeders’ Cup-winning jockey Florent Geroux.

“I told Florent Geroux the other day, ‘Don’t be shocked if you win the Queen’s Plate,’ ” Casse said Wednesday following the race draw at Woodbine. “I think he’s going to come in a little bit under the radar but my feeling has always been that he’s bred to go 1 ⁄ miles, he’s by one of the greatest sires of all time in Scat Daddy . . . so it would not shock one iota.

“We’ve ran in this race many times and our success has been spotty at best. But a lot of times I think you’re in the race just to be in it [and] taking a chance. That’s not the case this year, we have some major horespower here and I’d be pretty disappointed if we’re not right there.”

Casse, 57, is one of horse racing’s top trainers with over 2,100 (and counting) career wins including three Breeders’ Cup titles. But he has just one Plate victory, that coming in 2014 with heralded filly Lexie Lou.

Last year, Holy Helena, another filly, won the Plate for Stronach Stables. The operation will have two horses in this year’s race in Real Dude and Silent Poet.

The Plate is the opening leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown. The second race is the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on July 24 at Fort Erie Racetrack with the finale being the $400,000 Breeder’s Stakes on Aug. 18 on Woodbine’s E.P. Taylor turf course.