Queen's Plate Contenders Begin First Set Of Workouts

Inglorious, pictured, hit the track earlier this week to begin her final preparations for the Queen's Plate. Courtesy: WEG / Michael Burns Photography

After Check Your Soul hit the track on Wednesday for his first workout since the Plate Trial, several other Queen's Plate contenders, including Woodbine Oaks winner Inglorious, followed suit in the past couple of days.

Check Your Soul posted an impressive breeze of 1:00.40 over Woodbine's main track on Wednesday to lead the charge of horses making their final preparations for Canada's big race.

On Thursday, Inglorious hit the track for her first work since her Woodbine Oaks victory. She fired a bullet, besting Check Your Soul's work by over a second. She covered five furlongs in 59.00, the top five furlong work at Woodbine on Thursday morning. Woodbine's leading rider Luis Contreras was aboard.

Friday's workout action saw a trio of Mark Casse trainees, all of which will be making the start in the Queen's Plate. Hippolytus, Strike Oil and Enduring Star all breezed five furlongs over a fast Woodbine polytrack. Enduring Star had the best work out of the group, covering five furlongs in 1:00.80. Strike Oil and Hippolytus were both clocked at identical 1:01.60.

Head Honcho was the lone contender to hit the track on Saturday morning, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.40 on the main track. The workout ranked 13th out of 61 total horses who worked that distance this morning. Two horses who I might have thought had a chance to make the starting gate for the 2011 Queen's Plate, both had workouts this morning that show me they might be going elsewhere. Control and Celtic Conviction both worked this morning, but just four furlongs, while all other Queen's Plate starters have been breezing five furlongs.

With only six horses showing up on the workout tab so far this week, there could be a flurry of action on Sunday morning. Keep your eye on At The Post all week, leading up to the 152nd running of the Queen's Plate on Sunday, June 26th.

Posted in: Celtic C,Control,CYS,E Star,Head Honcho,Hippolytus,Inglorious,Queens Plate,Strike Oil