Conquest Enforcer is the real deal

Let’s get this bold statement out of the way right off the bat -- The best three-year-old in all of Canada will be running on Queen’s Plate Day, but not in the main event.

With all due respect to the 13 fine horses vying to take home the top spot in the Canadian Classic, they would all be in deep trouble had Conquest Enforcer been ready to run in the Queen’s Plate. With an eye on the future, the talented son of Into Mischief will instead contest Sunday’s $100,000 Charlie Barley Stakes, at a mile on Woodbine’s excellent turf course. So why isn’t the horse, in which I have so much belief, going after Canada’s most prestigious race?

After a minor injury last fall, and some nagging hoof issues earlier this year, Conquest Enforcer was away from the races for more than seven months. But when he did come back, the Conquest Stables’ owned three-year-old picked up right where he left off last year with a dominant performance in the seven-furlong Queenston Stakes on Woodbine’s synthetic Tapeta track. The Queen’s Plate was a consideration for the Mark Casse trained budding star, but trying to get him ready for a big ten-furlong race, so soon after a single sprint did not seem to be the best thing for the colt, especially one with such a bright future.

But before we look too far into that future, let’s take a look back at his limited racing career to date. Always highly thought of, Conquest Enforcer actually debuted in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes last September. Generally, a race that produces a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf entrant or two, it was an aggressive placement. A slow start, and some greenness led to a fourth-place finish; certainly not something to be ashamed of considering the spot, but nothing like we soon saw from the Canadian-bred bay.

Off that effort, he came back in another stakes race, and this time blew away the field. It was four weeks after his career debut, in the Cup and Saucer Stakes, which is an important event for Canadian-bred two-year-olds. Despite being bottled-up the first half of the stretch, he was able to win going away by nearly seven lengths. The turn of foot displayed after finally getting free was really something to see.

Patrick Husbands, a former Queen’s Plate winner, and the only rider Conquest Enforcer knows in the afternoon, has been high on the colt from the beginning. Here is what he had to say after hopping off him in his latest race, the Queenston … “I’ve always had confidence in this horse,” said Husbands. “I’ve been breezing him since day one and I knew coming into this race it was going to take a good horse to beat him. With him, it’s all about talent. You can’t take anything away from a good horse. Only six weeks ago he worked his first three-eighths. He came into this race on pure talent.”

That talent has already shown itself on both the Tapeta and the turf. Sunday, it will be back on the turf, a surface that could prove to be his best. From a barn that already includes Tepin and Catch a Glimpse, it’s almost scary to think that they could be sitting on another monster of a miler.

Now he is set to top a field of 12 in the Charlie Barley, which is carded as race 6 on the big day at Woodbine. This field, which also includes Hammers Vision, who was beaten just one length in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge at Belmont Park last time, surely represents more of a challenge than was found in the Queenston, but still, don’t expect to get much in the way of odds on Conquest Enforcer on Sunday. He was pounded home to 3-10 in that return race in May. Clearly, the secret is out about him north of the border. I don’t suspect it will be too much longer before U.S. race fans know all about him, as well.