The King's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race and the oldest continuously run race in North America, having been founded in 1860. It is run at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles for a maximum of 17 three-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada.
Lucien Laurin was a French-Canadian jockey and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was best known for training Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973.
Sam-Son Farm is a Thoroughbred horse racing stable with farms located in Milton, Ontario (Canada) and Ocala, Florida (U.S.). Established in the 1960s by Ernest L. "Ernie" Samuel, it began as a home for competition hunter/jumper horses. One Sam-Son horse won the 1967 Pan-American Games Individual Jumping Gold Medal and was a member of the 1968 Team Gold Medal for Canada at the Mexico Olympics.
Kinghaven Farms is a horse racing stable that was founded in 1967 by Donald G. "Bud" Willmot. Located in King City, Ontario, north of Toronto, the success of the stable would see it expand to the United States with the acquisition of a 660-acre (2.7 km2) farm and training center near Ocala, Florida. In 1974, Bud's son David S. Willmot began managing the farm's racing/breeding programs. In 2004, David Willmot announced that Kinghaven was shutting down its Thoroughbred operation, although he would continue to race a handful of horses in the following years.
Harry Giddings Jr. was a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame owner, breeder, and trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. He was born in Trafalgar Township in Halton County, Ontario now at the outskirts of the town of Oakville. Raised on a horse breeding farm, he learned about training Thoroughbreds from childhood and by 1907 was successful enough to have one of his horses compete in the Queen's Plate, Canada's most prestigious horse race first run in 1860. Between 1911 and 1942, Harry Giddings would win a record eight editions of the Queen's Plate. Sixty-six years later in 2008 Roger Attfield tied the record. In addition to his Queen's Plates, Giddings Jr. won ten of the two other Canadian Classic Races which today constitute the Canadian Triple Crown series.
Izvestia was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 1990.
With Approval was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 1989 under jockey Don Seymour. Even though he missed the rest of his three-year-old season due to injury, he was named the 1989 Canadian Horse of the Year.
John J. Tammaro Jr. was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.
Donald J. Seymour was a Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing who is the only jockey in history to win two Canadian Triple Crowns.
Canadian Champ (1953–1978) was a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who in 1956 won the three races that became the Canadian Triple Crown Championship in 1959. Sired by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Windfields, he was out of the mare Bolesteo.
The Dance Smartly Stakes is a thoroughbred horse race run annually in August at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A Grade II stakes race raced on turf, it is open to fillies and mares three years of age and older and run at 1+1⁄16 miles. Originally known as the Woodbine Handicap, the race was renamed in 1998 for Dance Smartly, the second filly to win the Canadian Triple Crown who went undefeated during the 1991 racing season and was inducted into both the Canadian and United States Racing Hall of Fames.
Carotene is a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who holds the filly or mare record for winning the most Sovereign Awards. Bred by David Willmot's Kinghaven Farms, she was a daughter of the British sire Great Nephew, who also sired Epsom Derby winners Grundy and Shergar. Carotene's dam was Carrot Top, a mare David Willmot purchased in foal from the Whitney family at the 1982 dispersal sale of their bloodstock in the United Kingdom.
Alydeed is a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Anderson Farms of St. Thomas, Ontario, he was out of the unraced mare Bialy, a daughter of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Alydar. A grandson of British Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, he was sired by Shadeed, the 1985 British Champion Miler and winner of the British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas.
Talkin Man is a Thoroughbred racehorse who was the Canadian Champion 2-year-old colt of 1994 after winning the Coronation Futurity and Grey Stakes. At age three, he won the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial before finishing twelfth as one of the favorites in the 1995 Kentucky Derby. His last start was a sixth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes. Retired to stud, his most successful offspring was Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now.
Bull Page was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse and an important sire.
Alywow was a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse and a member of the Canadian Racing Hall Of Fame.
Not Bourbon is a Canadian Thoroughbred race horse. He is owned and bred by Charles E. Fipke and ridden by Jono Jones. At age two, Not Bourbon set a new Woodbine track record in winning the Bull Page Stakes. Racing at age three, he won the Queenston Stakes then upset heavily favored Harlem Rocker in the Plate Trial Stakes.
Harvey Guy Bedwell was an American Hall of Fame trainer and owner of Thoroughbredracehorses who was the first trainer to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
The Bunty Lawless Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. An Ontario Sire Stakes, it is a race for horses age three and older. Run near the end of October, it is contested over a distance of 1 mile on turf and currently carries a purse of $96,563.
Chop Chop (1940-1963) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was inducted in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. He was sired by Flares, a son of U.S. Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox and a full brother to U.S. Triple Crown winner Omaha. Flares raced in England with considerable success for owner William Woodward Sr., counting the Ascot Gold Cup, Champion Stakes and Princess of Wales's Stakes among his wins.
