Casse has full plate of solid contenders

Mark Casse will look to triple his Queen’s Plate pleasure Saturday.

Casse will send two solid entries postward at Woodbine Racetrack. Filly Wonder Gadot headlines the five-horse field in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks while Telekinesis makes his Toronto oval debut in the $125,000 Plate Trial Stakes.

Both aim to punch their tickets to the $1-million Queen’s Plate, the opening jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown on June 30 at Woodbine. They’ll look to join Flameaway, another Casse-trained horse that ran in the 2018 Kentucky Derby.

Telekinesis, Flameaway and Wonder Gadot held the top three spots in the Winterbook, a hypothetical listing that offered early odds on the 109 three-year-olds — 95 colts and geldings, 14 fillies — nominated to the ’18 Canadian Triple Crown.

Casse captured his first Queen’s Plate in 2014 with Lexie Lou after she won the Oaks, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara, earlier that year.

Ontario-bred Wonder Gadot, Canada’s champion two-yearold filly, was second by a halflength to Monomoy in the US$1-million Kentucky Oaks on May 4. That’s the best finish by a Canadian-bred horse in the race since Gal in A Ruckus won in 1995.

Wonder Gadot, named after Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot, made her lone start on Woodbine’s main track last fall, winning the 11/16-mile, Grade 3 Mazarine by six lengths.

“She’s super, she’s doing really well,” said Casse.

Telekinesis is expected to be a solid choice in the seven-horse Plate Trial despite making his first Woodbine appearance with just three starts to his credit.

“He’s an exceptional horse,” Casse said. “We’ve felt early on, even as a two-year-old, that he was head of the class but he had some minor setbacks.

“The Queen’s Plate has always been a big goal.”