Queen's Plate Draw Set For Thursday

Courtesy: WEG / Michael Burns Photography

The draw for the 2011 Queen's Plate will take place on Thursday morning at Woodbine Racetrack. The draw will feature the unique draft style, where connections of the horses will select where they will start based on random draw. Toronto Blue Jays Senior Vice-President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos, has been selected as the honourary drawmaster for Thursday's proceedings.

UPDATED (June 23, 2011): Click here to check out where the horses will start in the 2011 Queen's Plate
A total of 17 horses appear to be going postward for the 152nd running of the Queen's Plate, the most since Woodcarver won Canada's biggest race in 1999.

The draft style draw gives owners and trainers the opportunity to select their own post positions based on where they are selected in a random draw. Once the order of the draft is established, the connections of the horses will receive a five-minute period to discuss their options. When that time expires, the connections will proceed, one by one, to announce their choices. This format was first used for the 1998 Queen's Plate.

Thursday morning's draw will take place in the walking ring at 9:30 a.m. and will be available on the Queen's Plate website.

Here's what the field looks like for Sunday's race, listed in no particular order:

1. Inglorious
2. Check Your Soul
3. Queen'splatekitten
4. Pender Harbour
5. Ojibway Signal
6. Maple Leaf Kitten
7. Bowman's Causeway
8. Enduring Star
9. Hippolytus
10. Strike Oil
11. Head Honcho
12. Oh Canada
13. Curgone
14. Okiyama
15. One Big Gator
16. Seawatch
17. Imhotep

Posted in: Queens Plate,Woodbine