Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Plate may be the next stop
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Historically, horses that run well in the Woodbine Oaks and Plate Trial Stakes have gone on to have success in the Queen’s Plate. Following Saturday’s running of the Oaks and the Plate Trial, connections of the respective winners, Desert Ride in the Oaks and Pay for Peace in the Plate Trial, said the Queen’s Plate would be under consideration.
Last year’s Woodbine Oaks runner-up, Wonder Gadot, and 2017 Woodbine Oaks winner, Holy Helena, both went on to win the Queen’s Plate in their next start. Sam-Son Farm homebred Desert Ride could become the third consecutive filly to win the Queen’s Plate following her narrow victory over Bold Script in Saturday’s Woodbine Oaks.
Both Rick Balaz, the president and general manager of Sam-Son Farm, and Mark Samuel, the chief executive officer, said no decision on a potential start in the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on June 29 would be made until they saw how Desert Ride came out of her Oaks victory.
“A fantastic filly from a fantastic family and we’re just so happy to be back up here again,” Balaz said. “It’s been a little while for us and it’s pretty exciting. We’ll see where we go next with her, but hopefully she’s got a great future.”
Sam-Son Farm recorded its record eighth Woodbine Oaks win, but it was its first since 2004, which was won by Desert Ride’s second dam, Eye of the Sphynx. Sam-Son Farm has won the Queen’s Plate with a filly twice before, with Dancethruthedawn in 2001 and with Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly in 1991.
Plate Trial Stakes winners have also seen their fair share of success in the Plate. While the last Plate Trial winner to win the Queen’s Plate was Big Red Mike in 2010, the 2016 Plate Trial winner Amis Gizmo and 2015 Plate Trial winner Danish Dynaformer both went on to run second in the Queen’s Plate. Pay for Peace will be trying for similar success this year following his 19-1 upset victory in the Plate Trial.
Winning trainer Rachel Halden said the connections were not considering a run in the Queen’s Plate heading into the Plate Trial, but would now following Pay for Peace’s 1 3/4-length victory over Federal Law.
“We weren’t thinking about it,” she said. “I think this horse will step up on the turf and we’ve been thinking Breeders’. He did jump up and run a big race today. We’ll definitely be thinking about it now and we’ll see how he comes out of it and have a discussion with his owners.”
Melmich to stay on turf
Following three productive turf starts this winter at Gulfstream Park by Melmich, trainer Kevin Attard said he would likely focus on turf this season for the horse, beginning with the Grade 3, $125,000 Singspiel Stakes over 1 1/2 miles at Woodbine on June 22.
Attard said he would also nominate the 8-year-old Melmich to the Grade 3, $125,000 Dominion Day Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on Tapeta on June 30 as a backup option.
Since they claimed Melmich for $20,000 in September 2014, the thought of running the son of Wilko on the turf had not been seriously considered by Attard and owners Stephen Chesney and Cory Hoffman until this past winter. Attard said the idea had been mentioned in the past, but was not debated by the group.
“He had been running so well [on synthetic and dirt], it was hard to try something different with him,” he said. “His form had been so consistent. Last year might not have been one of his better years, but he had been healthy and sound, so we said let’s take him to Florida and give him a try on the turf and see how he handles that and take it from there. He really took to it.”
Melmich ran in three stakes on the turf, finishing third in the Chrysaor Stakes before finishing second in both the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida and Grade 2 Pan American Stakes. Melmich finished three-quarters of a length behind Zulu Alpha in the Mac Diarmida and was beaten just a nose by Focus Group in the Pan American.
With success on synthetic, dirt, and now turf, Melmich has proven to be quite versatile, and gives Attard plenty of options moving forward.
“We’ve taken him to Belmont and Santa Anita to run on the dirt and he’s run well,” Attard said. “He’s obviously run well on synthetic. He’s just a good horse. He can run on any kind of surface.”