Queen's Plate 2012: Post Draw Breakfast

Tweet

The Draw

I made my annual trek up the Queen Elizabeth Way (1 hr 45 minutes - not bad) for the Queen's Plate Post Position Draw Breakfast held at the Woodbine walking ring on Thursday morning. It was a hot, but breezy morning and the Eggs Benedict was delicious and the hosts definitely do a great job. It  is one of my favorite places to visit and talk horse racing.

Along with the usual friendly faces of the Woodbine media staff, I was fortunate to spend time with track announcer Dan Loiselle (a total class act), Hall of Fame jockey Sandy Hawley, in addition to the trainer/jockey combination of Mark Casse and Luis Contreras.

One thing I wasn't expecting to hear was Nick Eaves' speech about the current state of racing in the province. In his speech launching the 153rd running of the Queen's Plate, Eaves, Woodbine Entertainment Group's President and CEO announced that this may be the last year for the Plate, the oldest annual sporting event in Canada.

"Earlier this year the Ontario Government made the decision to arbitrarily cancel the commercial contracts between Ontario's racetracks and the OLG. The cancellation of these contracts will devastate the province's horse racing and breeding industry which contributes $4.5 billion to the Gross Domestic Product," said Eaves. "As a result of the Government's current position, premier race events such as the Queen's Plate as well as day-to-day horse racing are in jeopardy."


Scary stuff, indeed.

Mark Tewksbury was the Honorary Draw Master, a former Olympic gold medalist for the 1992 Canadian team, winning the 100 meter backstroke in Barcelona.

I have a quick recap of the draw at the Sports, Ink blog on the TBN website which can be found here.

Here are some pictures from this morning's draw:

The Plate Jockey's Reach for the Goods

WEG CEO Nick Eaves addresses the crowd

Olympic Champion Mark Tewksbury
chats with Dan Loiselle

Trainer Mark Casse selects first for
Golden Ridge and grabs Post No. 7

2012 HOF Inductee Roger Attfield
selects Post No. 9 for Colleen's Sailor

Yours truly yukking it up
with jockey Luis Contreras
Photo Courtesy: Keith McCalmont, Woodbine Media

The race itself looks to be wide open with lots of story lines. I'll be up in Toronto on Sunday afternoon mid-card and through the Plate, so follow along with me on Twitter.