Page 2 - July 2008 The Game

2 The Game, July 2008 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper Not Bourbon gives trainer Roger Attfield a record-tying eighth Queen’s Plate
Ginger Brew, made a determined run at Not Bourbon. Michael Burns Photo courtesy of WEG
TORONTO, June 22... Charles Fipke’s homebred Not Bourbon, trained by Hall of Famer Roger Att eld, gamely held off a determined bid from Ginger Brew to capture the 149th running of the Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most famous horse race, Sunday at Woodbine.
exactly what he did. He had to move a little earlier than he wanted to. But he just gutted it out. He’s just a very good horse.”
the wire.
“Roger (Att eld) did a fantastic job
At the wire of the mile and one- quarter classic for Canadian foaled three-year-olds over the Polytrack, Not Bourbon, expertly ridden by Jono Jones, had prevailed by a diminishing head, getting the distance in 2:03.59, with a nal quarter-mile timed in a sizzling 24.29 seconds.
“This horse thrives
on work and you don’t go into these things (Queen’s Plate) half- cocked. He loves to train and he wants to work fast. If I’d gone easier on him, he would have been too rank in this
with this horse,” said Jones, celebrat- ing his rst Plate win after nishing second aboard favoured A Bit ‘O Gold in 2004. “At the beginning (of the racing season), I had my doubts if he could get seven-eighths, to be honest. When he ran the mile and an eighth (Plate Trial), he won, but he got a little tired in the end. I still had my doubts about a mile and a quarter. But he
Solitaire, who had dropped back to last halfway through the race, came widest of all into the stretch and gained third place in a four-horse photo, four and one-half lengths further back, with Deputiformer fourth.
by Budweiser, went postward the 9-5 choice. Not Bourbon as dismissed as the third choice at 9-2, behind 3-1 Solitaire, whom he had decisioned in the Plate Trial on June 1.
race, probably wouldn’t have rated and we wouldn’t have won. But this is fantastic for me. It’s not an easy race to win and it’s been a few years since
I won the seventh one. It’s just a great thrill.”
ran his eyeballs out today. Actually, because I get on him so much (for morning workouts and races), I know him so well. I knew exactly what he needed to win and he got it.”
For the 68-year-old Att eld, it was his eighth Plate win after another masterful training job, tying the mark set by Harry Giddings Jr. back in 1942, when Att eld was a two-year-old living in England.
A Not Impossible-Bourbelle Belle chestnut colt, Not Bourbon thus became the rst horse since Alydeed in 1992, and the 23rd overall, to win the Plate after taking the Plate Trial. Ironically, Alydeed was also trained by Att eld, who last won the Plate in 1995 with Regal Discovery.
With Harvest Home a
morning scratch, a eld of 14 loaded into the gate for the “Gallop for the Guineas.” And it was D. Flutie, with Emile Ramsammy, who set the early fractions of :23.40, :47.60 and 1:13.55. But the eld closed in around the far turn, as a tracking Not Bourbon and Ginger Brew, to his outside, swung into action.
Added owner and breeder Charles Fipke, who lives in Kelowna,
British Columbia, but is best known for discovering one of the largest diamond mines in Canada, named Ekati, in the Northwest Territories. “It’s just wonderful. I just felt he was going to do it. He had great competi- tion. Ginger Brew is a ne horse. Somebody has to win, though. I’m really happy for the whole team.”
Stronach Stables’ Ginger Brew, who destroyed her lly rivals two weeks ago in the Woodbine Oaks, presented
“Well, I know he won’t lie down on me,” said an elated Att eld, about the stretch battle with Ginger Brew. “He’ll run his heart out and that’s
Deputiformer grabbed a brief lead at the head of the stretch, after the mile was reached in 1:39.30, but was passed by Not Bourbon, who opened a couple of lengths at
Fipke also owns Tale of Ekati, who challenged Big Brown during the U.S. Triple Crown chase, nishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby but sixth in the Belmont Stakes.
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the eighth pole. However, jockey Javier Castellano had Ginger Brew in high gear, as he desperately tried to run down the leader, but just failed to do so at
“She ran a very good race,” said Castellano, about favoured Ginger Brew, who was trying to become
just the fth lly, and rst since Dancethruthedawn in 2001, to win the Oaks and the Plate. “She’s second- best today, that’s all. She was perfect. She had a good trip following the winner. She showed up today. I’m happy for that.”
In winning his fth race and fourth stakes tally in 10 career outings,
Not Bourbon picked up a pot of $600,000 as he now approaches the $1 million plateau, with a career bankroll of $961,160.
Info courtesy of WEG Media Dept.
WEG and LongRun Plate fundraiser
Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG), in partnership with LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, held a unique fundraiser in conjunction with the historic Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most famed horse race.
Each of the 15 starters in the 149th edition of the Plate wore customized saddlecloths that were autographed after the race and auctioned on eBay during the week of June 23-30, with all proceeds going to LongRun Retirement Society. (longrunretirement.com).
LongRun is one of the rst adoption and placement programs for thoroughbred racehorses in Canada whose
aim is to offer an alternative to owners and trainers – rather than have horses continue to race that are no longer
able to compete. LongRun tries to help by fostering, rehabilitating and nding permanent adoptive homes and alternative careers as pleasure horses or companion animals. They also aim to educate the Ontario thoroughbred racing community, as well as the public, about these alternatives.
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