It was certainly no mirage, as Wild Desert made history at Woodbine on Sunday, capturing the $1 million Queen's Plate, Canada's most famous horse race, with a dramatic stretch run under jockey Patrick Valenzuela.
Wild Desert, who went postward the 3-1 second choice, rallied in mid-stretch, split the pacesetter Gold Strike and King of Jazz on the outside, then edged away to a 1/2 length victory over the latter, getting the 1 1/4 miles in 2:07.37.
Gold Strike, bidding to become only the fifth filly to win both the Labatt Woodbine Oaks and the Queen's Plate, held on for third, 3 3/4 lengths further back, after leading for most of the trip, while a 53-1 maiden longshot, Molinaro Beau, shocked the fans with a fourth-place finish.
Among the disappointments was Sam-Son Farm's Dance With Ravens, who went postward as the 2-1 favorite but finished seventh.
Wild Desert hadn't raced since finishing a distant eighth to eventual Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex in the Arkansas Derby, April 16 at Oaklawn Park. The bay son of Wild Rush thus became the first winner in modern history (since 1956) to win the Plate off a 10-week layoff.
"This is a race I've always wanted to win," explained co-owner Dan Borislow, who now resides in Palm Beach, Florida. "Joe Torre got involved with the New York connection. There's about four partners from New York. Keith Jones has been a buddy of mine for six or seven years. (On Wild Desert encountering some slight brushing in the stretch), I thought (to myself), P. Val was on the horse and if anybody could get through, he'd be the man to do it and he did it."
"There was no trouble really," recounted Valenzuela, for years one of the leading riders in North America. "I was biding my time along the inside throughout the backstretch (in eighth place). Around the turn, there was a little bit of traffic but I weaved my way through it. Through the stretch, the leader (Gold Strike) bore out a little bit and brushed my horse. But my horse went about his business, prevailed at the end and was drawing away at the finish."
Wild Desert picked up the winner's spoils of $600,000 from the $1 million purse for the 146th Canadian-bred three-year-old classic, in winning his first race in four starts this year.
Wild Desert paid $8.30, $4.70 and $4.50, combining with King of Jazz ($5.90, $4.90) for a $40.30 (5-4) exacta. A 5-4-7 (Gold Strike, $3.70 to show) trifecta returned $209.20 while a 5-4-7-2 (Molinaro Beau) $1 superfecta was worth $1,973.60.
