Horse Racing: Eurico and Big Red Mike win Queen’s plate, Queen attends
The Queen’s Plate, held this Sunday, is always a day to mark in the Canadian Horse racing calendar, more so this year than any other since 1997. In attendance, along with 40,000 spectators were the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen herself. This year marks the fourth time the Queen has attended the event.
In its 151st year, the first leg of the Canadian Triple crown followed by Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders Stakes, the Queen’s Plate is the oldest running thoroughbred race in all of North America. The 1 ¼ miles track carries a purse of one million Canadian dollars or 400,000 pounds.
Sunday belonged to Jockey Eurico Da Silva. Riding Big Red Mike, Eurico won this year’s Plate and accepted honours from the Queen herself. Eurico was ecstatic about meeting the Queen. “I tried my hardest to meet her and now I did it,” he said after the race. Eurico said that all through the race he was thinking about the Queen. In his excitement he sounded more like a teenage girl in the presence of her favourite rock star than the highly accomplished jockey that he is when he said, almost screaming it, “I’m going to see the Queen!” After having met her, he had nothing but awe for her majesty. “She is so nice. She is a very kind person. I am just so happy to meet her”. We are happy for you too Eurico but don’t forget you also won the race.
This is Eurico’s second consecutive win at the ultimate Woodbine racing event. Last year, riding the Eye of the Leopard, with trainer Mark Frostad, Eurico covered the length of the track a second faster. A second slower this year, still Eurico won the race comfortably at a length and a half ahead of his closest pursuer. That being Frostad’s Hotep. Frostad and Eurico were both in the running for a second consecutive win but Eurico came out on top.
The other favourites, 7-to-2 Roan Irish and Mobilizer never put up enough of a challenge. Winner of the Woodbine Oaks, Roan Irish placed a commendable third in the race. Mobilizer, however, started off reasonably, stayed in it through three quarters of a mile but then gave up and ended the race in an unflattering 10th place.
Hotep stayed on Big Red Mike’s tail all the way to the end. Eurico was confident though that for all of Hotep’s effort, Big Red Mike wouldn’t concede first place without a fight and that’s exactly how it turned out. Big Red Mike led the field till the end. Frostad, no doubt was disappointed since he had high expectations for Hotep and was the 3-to-1 favourite, but second place in the most auspicious event in this year’s calendar should be a disappointment to no man or horse.
“My friend, we’re going to do our best. But the Queen’s here. No pressure”, is what Eurico said to the horse before the race, he told the press as he laughed about it. The Horse apparently got the message.
It’s not immediately apparent though if it was the Queen who attended a race or if there was a race around the Queen. The crowds seemed more interested in Royalty than the race. Braving a relentless sun, the Queen herself an owner and breeder, inspected some of the favourites before the race. She exchanged pleasantries with the owners and trainers, and outshined the race itself as she commanded the attention of the crowds.
Anywhere the Queen descends upon, comes her security entourage. Woodbine of course was no exception. There is a fine balance between necessary precaution and suffocating public contact and that balance was maintained. There were no untoward incidents at the event except maybe when the owner of the winning horse, Don Romeo, placed his hand on the Queens back, though it was more of an awkward situation than the kind of breach of protocol the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would concern itself with. No harm, no foul.
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