Caitlinhergrtness wins the 2024 King’s Plate

Caitlinhergrtness and jockey Rafael Hernandez with the flower blanket in the winner’s circle.  • Undercard Stakes Results

Date: 8/24/2024

On Friday afternoon, a field of 12 Canadian-foaled 3-year-olds (after Bedard scratched) raced 1 1/4 miles over the Tapeta surface at Woodbine in the 165th running of the $1 million King’s Plate Stakes, the oldest continuously-run stakes race in North America and the first leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, with a $500,000 bonus should a horse complete the sweep. Conditions were typical for late August in Southern Ontario, with partly cloudy skies and a race time temperature of 24 C (75 F). Originally scheduled for last Saturday, that afternoon just 5 races were contested despite torrential rainfall and numerous weather delays before the balance of the card including the Plate and 4 other stakes races was cancelled due to safety concerns, with those races rescheduled 6 days later.

My Boy Prince was sent off as the 3-5 favorite off a 3 race win streak including the King Corrie, Queenston, and Plate Trial Stakes. In to challenge him included 9-2 second choice Essex Serpent, winner of the Marine Stakes (G3), and 9-1 third choice Caitlinhergrtness, the lone filly in the field and a close second in the Woodbine Oaks last out.

Down the stretch with Caitlinhergrtness (white silks) closing on the outside and favorite My Boy Prince (right) leading on the rail.

Jockey Patrick Husbands sent Essex Serpent to the lead first time by and he set fractions of 23.74, 47.23, and 1:11.60 while pressed by My Boy Prince and stalked by 19-2 fourth choice Rafaroo and Caitlinhergrtness. On the far turn Essex Serpent tired as My Boy Prince easily took over, opening up a 2 1/2 length lead through 1 mile in 1:36.14. My Boy Prince looked homefree midstretch through 9f in 1:49.34, but Caitlinhergrtness, confidently ridden by Rafael Hernandez, ran by him at the 1/16 pole to win by 3/4 length in 2:03.45. It was another 2 lengths back to late-runnng 15-1 Midnight Mascot third.

Check out the four other stakes on the card: the King Edward Stakes (G2) won by Filo Di Arianna, the Bold Venture Stakes (G3) won by Patches O’Houlihan, the Catch A Glimpse Stakes won by Shifty, and the Soaring Free Stakes won by Cairo Caper.

Pgm  Horse              Jockey         Win   Place  Show
 4   Caitlinhergrtness  Hernandez    20.70    5.30  4.20
 7   My Boy Prince      Civaci                2.40  2.30
 5   Midnight Mascot    Contreras                   5.70

Winning Time:  2:03.45

$1 Exacta  4-7                21.50
$2 Trifecta  4-7-5           368.20
$2 Superfecta  4-7-5-8     3,169.90

Results Chart

Left: Caitlinhergrtness in the winner’s circle. Winning jockey Rafael Hernandez said, “She was hot, but she was getting on the bridle a little bit. She gave me everything. I was covering all the time, all the time, and when I pulled the trigger, she just gave me everything.”

Right: Caitlinhergrtness heads back to the barn after the race. Winning trainer Kevin Attard said, “She’s obviously all class and all racehorse. She’s handled everything really well. She’s withstanding everything we’ve thrown at her. I was happy with where he [Hernandez] positioned her the whole way around there and at the quarter pole, I thought we had a shot.”

Left: The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, presents the King’s Plate trophy along with Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson (far right).

Right: Winning jockey Rafael Hernandez celebrates with the trophy, holding up three fingers for his third Plate win (but his first King’s Plate) after winning the Queen’s Plate on Shaman Ghost in 2015 and Moira in 2022. 2022 was the final Queen’s Plate before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. He added, “I know (Essex Serpent and My Boy Prince) are great horses so we just wanted to be clear to the top of the stretch. I kept behind (My Boy Prince) the whole way then in the stretch we let her do her thing. Considering everything we’ve gone through this week, I’m just grateful I have another filly to do this.”

Left: Co-owner Ryan Smith (Siena Farms LLC), jockey Rafael Hernandez, and trainer Kevin Attard pose with the trophy and flower blanket.

Right: Caitlinhergrtness gets her flower blanket after the race. Attard added, “She gave it all she had. My Boy Prince, kudos to him. He put in a gallant effort today. You know, he was a little suspect by a lot of people going this far, but he just proved what kind of class horse he is. I think our filly’s pretty special, and it took everything she had to run him down, and she’s the champ.”

Left: Second place finisher and beaten favorite My Boy Prince in the post parade. The Mark Casse trainee improved his record to 6 wins, 3 seconds, and 1 third in 11 starts, earning $752,215 for owner Gary Barber.

Right: Third place finisher Midnight Mascot returns after the race. The Mark Casse trainee improved his record to 2 wins, 2 seconds, and 4 thirds in 9 starts, earning $247,216 for owners Manfred and Penny Conrad.

Left: The horses break from the gate for the 165th King’s Plate.

Right: Caitlinhergrtness in the post parade. She is named after basketball player Caitlin Clark of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, drafted first overall in 2024 as the NCAA Division I all time leading scorer with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario was the Royal Representative at this year’s King’s Plate. She arrived in a limousine (instead of the traditional horse drawn landau) and was presented a bouquet of flowers by Gray Platts. This was her first Plate after taking over the role on November 14, 2023, replacing Elizabeth Dowdeswell who had held the title from 2014. She worked for CEPEO, the public school board for French language schools in Eastern Ontario including Ottawa for 30 years, becoming its director of education and secretary-treasurer, before serving as a vice-president of the Université de l’Ontario français (University of French Ontario), the French language public university in downtown Toronto.

Here is the arrival of the limousine accompanied by the Toronto Police Mounted Unit and the Governor General’s Horse Guards.

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