One Bad Boy outlasts Avie's Flatter to win Queen's Plate
California shipper One Bad Boy answered quite a lucrative distance question on Saturday, fending off well-supported Avie’s Flatter to take the $1 million Queen’s Plate, the first leg of Canada’s Triple Crown series.
Gliding on the front end under jockey Flavien Prat — who also won America’s Triple Crown opener, the Kentucky Derby — One Bad Boy clicked off fractions of 24.42, 49.52 and 1:14.18.
Avie’s Flatter headed the Richard Baltas trainee through a mile in 1:37.83, but the son of Twirling Candy fended him off, driving off to win in a final time of 2:02.98 over the synthetic track.
“He was going really easily around there,” Prat said, “and he gave me a good kick turning for home.”
Campaigned by Sayjay Racing, Greg Hall and Brooke Hubbard, One Bad Boy, a mere $65,000 purchase, entered off a runner-up in his synthetic debut in Golden Gate Fields’ Alcatraz Stakes back on May 19. Stretching out farther in the Queen’s Plate, Baltas took blinkers off to nice effect Saturday.
"It was awesome," Hall said. "We were a little worried about his ability to run the mile and a quarter, but you saw. He started pulling away, so we've very excited about that."
Behind Avie’s Flatter, Tone Broke and He’s a Macho Man ran third and fourth, respectively, in the field of 14. Stewards elected not to make a change after Skywire, who was bet down to 2-1 favoritism, was squeezed leaving the gate by Tone Broke.
Avie's Flatter went off as the Queen's Plate's 5-2 second choice, while One Bad Boy returned $9.70 on a $2 investment as a 7-2 shot.
"Second-best today,” said Javier Castellano, Avie’s Flatter's jockey. “Not much to say. Kept tracking the winner right there all the way on the lead. He never stopped and he never came back to me. I was in perfect position in the race, the race was slow and I was right next to him, but I couldn't get by.”
The $400,000 Prince of Wales, run at 1 3/16 miles on the dirt at Fort Erie on July 23, is the middle leg of Canada’s Triple Crown, and the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, at 1 1/2 miles on the turf back at Woodbine on August 17, concludes the series.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is sponsoring a new $500,000 bonus for a series sweep. Wando, in 2003, was the last horse to sweep the series and the seventh since its exception in 1959.