Inglorious turns Plate into Ladies Day

Inglorious and trainer Josie Carroll came through on Ladies Day at the 152nd the Queen’s Plate as the filly staged a dramatic late charge to capture the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown on Sunday.

By (Reuters)

Published: Mon 27 Jun 2011, 12:29 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 7:40 PM

The flying filly, under urging from Mexican jockey Luis Contreras, corralled 60-1 long shot Hippolytus over the final stretch of the 1 ¼ mile test then ran away from the 17-horse field to win North America’s oldest continually run stakes race by a comfortable two lengths.

Girl power ruled at Woodbine racetrack as Inglorious outran the boys to become just the sixth filly since 1956 to capture Canada’s most prestigious thoroughbred race and gave trainer Josie Carroll her second Plate win.

Carroll had already cemented her place in the Queen’s Plate record books having become the first female trainer to win the race in 2006 with Edenwold.

“You can’t compare them, they are both wonderful in their own way,” Carroll told reporters. “It’s a wonderful thing to win the Queen’s Plate; filly, colt it’s what we aspire to.

“It’s very special (today) but you never forget your first either.”

The second favourite, the filly had plenty of support paying out C$11.00 ($11.11), C$6.40 and C$4.70 as the Queen’s Plate had a record C$2.9 million bet on the race. Hippolytus held on to take second with Pender Harbour finishing third.

Check Your Soul, the heavy favourite, never worked into contention and denied trainer Roger Attfield a record ninth Queen’s Plate win.

Inglorious was content to spend much of the race near the back of the field but when Contreras asked the filly to go, she responded in style.

“When I asked her, she exploded,” said Contreras, who was riding in his first Plate. “I was waiting for the quarter pole to ask for the filly and she comes.

“She was relaxed all the way. She was waiting for me to ask ... She’s more than amazing. That is a very smart filly.”

The second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, The Prince of Wales Stakes, is set for July 17 at Fort Erie Race Track followed by the third leg the Breeders’ Stakes on Aug. 7 on the turf at Woodbine.

“Luis positioned her very well ... she relaxed very well for him and when he started to make his move and I saw her accelerate I knew we had we had a big, big chance,” said Carroll. “You could see her start to respond and I knew that was just her first gear.

“As far as the next move, I think we enjoy the moment and see how the filly comes out of it and let her tell us what we’re going to do.”