Page 3 - July 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, July 2007 3
A Plate of Firsts
The gutsy win by the unproven Mike Fox in this year’s running of the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine set off a whole slew of firsts not only for the connections but for the historic race itself.
Mike Fox, is a homebred colt by Giant’s Causeway - Alexis (IRE), by Alzao, for owner D. Morgan Firestone who has been involved in horseracing sine 1984.
Mike Fox’s Queen’s Plate win on June 24, 2007 was the horse’s first stakes win and was also the first Queen’s Plate win for his owner, trainer and jockey.
The now retired Mr. Firestone, who was the Chairman and President of his Firan Corporation in Oakville, Ontario, also participated in fox hunting with both the North York and Hamilton Hunt Clubs as well as being a member of the Board of Governors of McMaster University.
Trainer Ian Black is in his second year of training. Ian made the career change when Kinghaven Farms where he had been farm manager since 1975, began trimming back it’s operations. Ian had overseen the early development of past Queen’s Plate winners Izvestia, With Approval and Poetically however this was his first triumph in the classic race as a trainer.
Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson made history as the first female rider to win the Queen’s Plate in the race’s 148th year. Emma-Jayne has proven her abilities many times over before this latest accomplishment having earned two Sovereign and one Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Apprentice.
In her first full year of riding in 2005 she became the first woman and only the third apprentice to win the Woodbine riding title (Sandy Hawley and Mickey Walls were the others). She continued her magic in 2006 and
was once again leading rider despite losing her “bug” part way through the season.
Coming to the wire in this year’s Plate Mike Fox rallied after dropping back behind the leaders in early stretch. He somehow got his second wind and nailed pacesetter Alezzandro in the closing strides, posting a thrilling half-length victory in 2:05.45 for the mile and one-quarter classic.
Jiggs Coz, the post time 6-5 choice, appeared poised to run by Alezzandro turning for home but flattened out late in the lane to finish third, one and one-quarter lengths further back.
"We started losing some ground at that point (around the far turn)," said an elated, 25-year-old Wilson, who won back-to-back Sovereign Awards in 2005 and 2006 as Canada's top apprentice, as well as a 2005 Eclipse Award for North America honours. Last year, she rode in the Plate for the first time, finishing 12th aboard Bridgecut.
"I was getting a little worried. I looked up and saw (jockey Todd) Kabel sitting quite easy on Alezzandro. I said, ah, geez buddy, we've got to dig in deep. A little tougher running that what we did on that Wednesday night (a win by Mike Fox on May 23 in his last start). But he gave another spurt and wanted it just as bad as I did. I knew I had it. He was moving so strong coming to wire."
It was the biggest payday yet for Mike Fox, as he took home $600,000 for the win, his fourth victory in only eight career starts. Last year, while trained by Reade Baker, he won his debut, then finished third to Leonnatus Anteas in the Cup and Saucer, then was a distant seventh to
him in the Coronation Futurity, before closing out his juvenile season with an allowance win.
Black got the horse this spring, after Mike Fox returned from finishing fourth in an allowance contest at Tampa Bay Downs under Cliff Hopmans handling. He saddled him to a seventh place finish behind Jiggs Coz in the Queenston Stakes, May 5, before his victory in a mile and one-sixteenth allowance event on May 23, his last outing before the Plate.
Mike Fox owner/breeder Morgan Firestone shares the Queen’s Plate trophy with Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson
Trainer Ian Black
Photo left by Michael Burns courtesy of WEG
Roses Equine Products Ltd. www.rosesequine.com
~ ALL NATURAL NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ~
This is to acknowledge our success with our eight year old gelding FURTHERMORE. HetriumphedonJune13inthethirdraceat Woodbine racetrack winning in allowance company on the turf.
He established his best lifetime mark of 140.9 for 1 1/16. This was the first win for this horse in the last three years as he has had his ailments. We thank Robert Rose of Roses Equine Products Ltd. for developing products such as BONE AND JOINT VETERINARY AID that has been very beneficial to this horse and other horses that we have trained.
Robert Rose ~ 416-605-8433 cell ~ 416-483-6250
Wilson Rides Mike Fox to History
By Peter Gross
Let’s get this out of the way off the top: Emma Jayne Wilson is the first woman jockey in the 148 year history of the Queen’s Plate to win the mile and a quarter classic. In just her second ride in Canada’s most important horse race, Wilson guided Mike Fox to a half length win over Alezzandro who appeared in deep stretch to have stolen a front running win for Todd Kabel.
But analysis of this Queen’s Plate need not focus on gender. This had everything to do with athleticism and determination. At the head of the
stretch, Mike Fox was third and even
Wilson was not particularly confident
about her chances.
“Jiggs Coz made a big move round by me and I sort of got a little worried,” said Wilson in her post race interview. “I started getting after my horse and Mike was taking a little while to get going and I thought, I’m going to get third, I might get second and I just buried my head and kept on driving.”
In the stands, trainer Ian Black didn’t exactly sense an imminent victory either. “I thought we were backing up,” he admitted. “And then I thought we had a chance to hang on to be third and then there was a chance to be second and then,
my god, she’s going to win it.”
The final sixteenth of this Queen’s
Plate looked like no other. On a warm day at Woodbine, Mike Fox, having run nine and half furlongs under 126 pounds, had already been passed, but apparently, Wilson’s unbridled persistence flowed into the horse underneath. Mike Fox
found a better gear, began lengthening his strides and galloped up outside Alezzandro for the stunning upset at odds of 15-1.
Moments later there was a great moment for both horse racing and sports broadcasting in Canada as TSN announcer Renee Kierans rode her horse to meet the ecstatic winner. A gasping Wilson was unable to contain her joy.
Continued Page 4 - See Emma-Jayne Wilson
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