Queen's Plate week is usually a time for celebration for Canadian horse racing, especially with the added significance this year of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II for the 151st running. However, the week got off to a sad start as two past Canadian Horses of the Year passed away.
On Monday, 1989 Canadian Triple Crown winner With Approval was euthanized due to infirmities of old age at Newmarket, England, at the age of 24. Bred and raced by Kinghaven Farm and trained by Roger Attfield, he was the first horse to sweep the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales, and Breeders' Stakes since Canebora in 1963 and was named Horse of the Year for 1989. He went on to race on the turf as a 4 year old, including a world-record time of 2:10.20 for 1 3/8 miles in the Bowling Green Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park. Later that year, he finished second in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) and was retired to stud. He was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1993. At stud he sired 50 stakes winners, most notably Wood Memorial winner Talkin Man, who went on to sire Better Talk Now.
Attfield said, "It's 21 years this week that he won the Plate. He just had a special place in my heart." Kirsten Rausing, owner of Lanwades Stud added, "We had him in his twilight, but he was an absolute joy to work with. He always looked so well and he was a very nice horse to deal with. He was very fertile. He leaves (from his time in England) three-year-olds, two-year-olds, yearling foals, and a few pregnant mares."
On Tuesday morning, 2003 Horse of the Year and champion sprinter Wake At Noon broke down in a workout on the dirt training track at Woodbine at the age of 13. He had sired just 16 horses of racing age and last raced in 2007 after covering four mares. He was proven infertile this spring so owner-breeder Bruno Schickedanz opted to return him to racing. This was to have been his first workout in his comeback attempt, with plans to race him at Mountaineer.
Schickedanz said, "This spring he was shooting blanks, so he has been training at my farm for a few months. I wanted to send him to Woodbine and see what he would do in a workout. He's been acting like a three-year-old at the farm. I had plans to send him to race at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. It was a freak thing, I am told. He spooked from another horse and took a bad step. I feel terrible about it. This horse was my friend. I would pat him every day. But in racing, unfortunately, these things happen."
