Meet the Contenders: Saturday’s King’s Plate at Woodbine

Canada’s most important horserace, the 166th edition of the King’s Plate, returns to Woodbine on Saturday. The mile and one-quarter test over the Tapeta synthetic surface is first leg in the Canadian Triple Crown and restricted to those horses foaled in the country. Woodbine’s stacked undercard includes five additional stakes, headlined by the Grade 1 $750,000 E.P. Taylor for fillies and mares on the turf.

Horseplayers with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet be sure to take part in Saturday’s $3,000 Exacta-Thon promotion for Woodbine’s card.

Let’s meet the contenders for the King’s Plate:

#1-MANSETTI. 3-time local stakes winner of the Clarendon, Woodstock and Grade 3 Marine most recently in open company on his first stretch-out. Collected colt has won 4 of 7 overall for trainer Kevin Attard, who has won 2 of the last 3 King’s Plate editions (Moira 2022, Caitlinhergrtness 2024). Pietro Moran, leading the current Woodbine jockeys’ standings, is listed to ride both this one and stablemate Faber, decision pending.

#2-WILLIAM T: $45,000 yearling buy by Frosted broke his maiden by 6 lengths last out in his fourth lifetime start and will be tested for class. Don MacRae trains and turns the reins over to David Moran after Fraser Aebly opted for the more accomplished Notorious Gangster.

#3-NOTORIOUS GANGSTER: Coronation Futurity and Queenston Stakes winner rallied for second in the July 20 Plate Trial as the 9-5 favorite. Trainer Josie Carroll owns 3 victories in the Plate (2006 Edenwold, 2011 Inglorious, 2020 Mighty Heart) and gets regular rider Fraser Aebly back aboard the Classic Empire colt.

#4-SCORCHING: Mo Town colt captured the Simcoe and Cup and Saucer Stakes to close a successful, 3-race juvenile campaign. His summer preps include a runner-up in the Grade 3 Marine and third-place effort in the Plate Trial for trainer John Charalambous. American-based rider Jose Lezcano replaces John Velazquez in the saddle as the latter opts to ride No Time in the King’s Plate.

#5-MYTHICAL MAN: Gelded son of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man heads north of the border for the first time from his Saratoga summer base. 2024 Belmont Stakes-winning trainer Danny Gargan has gotten only one race out of this Gulfstream allowance winner this season, a seventh-place effort in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Manila Stakes on turf July 4. Jockey Sofia Vives knows her way around Canadian royalty, piloting former Horse of the Year Patches O’Houlihan with success.

#6-FABER: Longshot by Improbable has dropped all 4 decisions in allowance company this year after splitting his winter at Turfway and Fair Grounds stateside. Kevin Attard trainee was out of the money in all 3 stakes bids at Woodbine as a juvenile. Attard has won 2 of the last 3 King’s Plate editions (Moira 2022, Caitlinhergrtness 2024). Pietro Moran, leading the current Woodbine jockeys’ standings, is listed to ride both this one and stablemate Mansetti, decision pending.

#7-RUNAWAY AGAIN: Trainer Sid Attard aimed this Hard Spun gelding to the King’s Plate following his July 13 debut maiden victory. He cruised by more than 9 lengths that day at 8-1 odds over 1-1/16 miles – a race rained off the turf. US Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano takes the mount for the first time in search of his first Plate victory. Both Attard and Castellano have finished second twice in the King’s Plate. Home-bred for Stronach Stables.

#8-DEWOLF: Last year’s Bull Page Stakes winner looks to snap a 5-race losing skid that includes a sixth-place disappointment in the Plate Trial. Son of Silent Name had been second or third in 4 straight stakes prior, 3 times as the favorite. Kevin Attard has won 2 of the last 3 King’s Plate editions (Moira 2022, Caitlinhergrtness 2024). Champion US jockey Flavien Prat traveled here to win the 2019 KP aboard One Bad Boy and takes the mount aboard Dewolf for the first time.

#9-WATSONVILLE RED: Longshot was out of the money at big prices in the Grade 3 Marine and Plate Trial at 58-1 and 34-1 odds. Trainer Mike De Paulo has managed 1 win from 8 starts with this gelded son of Hard Spun, that coming under regular rider Leo Salles. De Paulo has orchestrated a pair of King’s Plate third-place finishes in his career.

#10-NO TIME: Woodbine Oaks winner looks to ride the recent success of fillies in the Plate, including Caitlinhergrtness a year ago (the 39th filly all-time to win). Mark Casse has turned that trick twice in his 3 Plate victories (’14 Lexie Lou, ’18 Wonder Gadot, later the colt ’23 Paramount Prince) – with John Velazquez guiding Wonder Gadot. Velazquez came north from Saratoga to pilot this daughter of Not This Time in the July 20 Oaks and also rode her to her maiden win in September 2024 when visiting for Woodbine Mile Day. Posted a faster Woodbine Oaks-winning time than the colts did in the same-day Plate Trial. Half-sister to US Grade 1 winners Ransom the Moon and Count Again.

#11-TOM’S MAGIC: Mike Stidham brings this son of US Triple Crown winner Justify to Woodbine for the first time from his Delaware Park base. Tom’s Magic won twice this winter at Fair Grounds, including the Black Gold Stakes. He bounced back from a troubled trip at Keeneland to win Monmouth’s Tale of the Cat Stakes on June 28 as the favorite. Rafael Hernandez won last year’s King’s Plate aboard Caiitlinhergrtness, his third in the race (also Shaman Ghost in 2015 and Moira in 2022) and takes the call on this colt for the first time.

#12-SEDBURYS GHOST (pictured): Son of 2015 Plate winner Shaman Ghost has won 3 of his last 4 starts, including the Plate Trial at 7-1 odds on July 20. He was an early 2-year-old in 2024, running in May and June before going on the shelf for nearly a full calendar year. Trainer Barb Minshall got improvement out of him after a close-up fourth in the Marine and regular rider Ryan Munger is back in the saddle. The veteran Minshall was third in the 1995 Plate with her eventual millionaire stable star Mt. Sassafrass.

#13-ASHLEY’S ARCHER: 3-time Plate winner Mark Casse has delivered but 1 victory from 7 starts with this Karakontie colt. That win came back in September and his current, 5-race losing streak includes a pair of allowance runner-ups in 2025 at the head of the ledger. Regular rider Sahin Civaci will be in the irons in search of his first King’s Plate score after finishing second a year ago aboard Casse’s odds-on favorite My Boy Prince.

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