Queen's Plate attracts 10

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Ten three-year-old Canadian-bred thoroughbreds

have been entered in Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine Racecourse.

The Queen's Plate will be contested over 1 1/4 miles on the dirt and is the first

race in the Canadian Triple Crown.

Among the horses entered is Gold Strike, who is coming off a 3 1/2 length win

 in the Woodbine Oaks two weeks ago. Gold Strike is owned by Harlequin Ranches

 and trained by Reade Baker. The filly will start from post 7 with Jim McAleney

 in the saddle. Gold Strike is the 3-1 second choice in the morning line.

There is also a sizable American presence in the 146th running of the Queen's Plate.

 Trainer Carl Nafzger, Bobby Frankel, Stanley Hough and Nancy Trola are shipping

 north of the border. Coming into ride from the United States are Rafael Bejarano,

 Pat Valenzuela and Richard Migliore.

The top two finishers from the Plate Trial are also entered in Sunday's race.

Dance with Ravens, who finished first in the race but was later disqualified to sixth

 after interfering with another horse at the start, is the morning- line favorite at

 5-2 and will be starting from post 9.

Todd Kabel will be riding Dance with Ravens. Mark Frostad is the trainer for the

 horse, who is stabled at Sam-Son Farm. Sam-Son Farm has won the Queen's Plate

 four times, most recently in 2001 with Dancethruthedawn. Dance with Ravens has

earned more than $270,000.

Three in the Bag, who finished second by a neck to Dance with Ravens only to later

 be declared the winner, will be starting from post 8 and is listed at 4-1 odds.

 Trained by Hough, Three in the Bag is owned by Castletop Stable and will be

 ridden by Robert Landry.

Frankel will send out Wild Desert, who is co-owned by New York Yankees manager

 Joe Torre and former NHL player Keith Jones. Wild Desert will start from post 5

with Valenzuela riding. The three-year-old has not raced since the Arkansas Derby

 when he was eighth to Afleet Alex. Earlier this year Wild Desert was fifth in the

Fountain of Youth Stakes and second in the Lane's End Stakes. Wild Desert is 6-1

 in the morning line.

Buckram Farm's King of Jazz will start from post 4 with Bejarano aboard. Trained

 by Nafzger, King of Jazz has won his last two starts and will be making his

stakes debut. King of Jazz is also 6-1 in the program.

Migliore has the riding assignment on Get Down. Owned by West Point

Thoroughbreds, Get Down finished third in the Plate Trial as the 7-5 favorite. He

 was placed second, though after the winner was disqualified to sixth. Get Down

will break from the outside post and is 10-1 in the morning line.

Completing the field for the Queen's plate are Granique, Molinaro, Runnaway Mon

 and Ablo.

After this race, The Prince of Wales Stakes will be run at Fort Erie on July 17 and

the Breeders' Stakes will take place back at Woodbine on August 7.

Two years ago Wando became the seventh thoroughbred to captured the

Canadian Triple Crown.