The Great Plate 8: Roger Attfield

Roger Attfield, who recently announced his retirement from training, shares his fondest memories from each of his record-tying eight Queen’s Plate wins.

“Every one of these horses had their own distinct personalities and unique traits. Obviously, to say you won a Plate is an amazing accomplishment. To have won eight is something I could never have imagined, but I am grateful to everyone who played a part in making those moments happen. And I am just as grateful to these wonderful horses.

“An interesting fact is that all three of my Triple Crown winners (With Approval, Izvestia and Peteski) won the Plate Trial before winning the Crown. It was 14 days between the Plate Trial and the Plate, 21 days between the Plate and the Prince of Wales, and then 21 days between the Prince of Wales and the Breeders’ Stakes.”

Not Bourbon (2008)

Sire: Not Impossible (IRE)

Dam: Bourbon Belle

Owner: Charles Fipke

Breeder: Charles Fipke

Jockey: Jono Jones

“Oh boy! He was probably the biggest achievement in any of those Plate wins because training that horse up to the race was not easy at all compared to a horse like Izvestia, who was just made to do that kind of thing. Not Bourbon was a very good sprinter up to a mile but to get him to go a mile and a quarter was going to be very tough, and it did turn out to be that way.

“I was beaten up at that time with a very bad foot injury that ended up getting infected. I was close to losing my foot. I had all kinds of equipment, antibiotic pumps into my heart and lots of other things I had to deal with. I had to come down to the track and train from my truck because I couldn’t get on my pony. This horse was so strong, so bull-headed and so fast, that the way he was training said he was never going to get the mile and a quarter. Eventually, I got Jono Jones to ride, and I asked if he could gallop him every morning for me. I told him what I wanted and how to go about it. Jono helped me and it was very hard work for him to get the fractions right when he galloped him in the morning. But we did get him finishing very well.

“When we won the Plate Trial, I thought we had a chance to win the Plate. And we were able to pull it off. It was a very good race, for sure.”

Regal Discovery (1995)

Sire: Vice Regent

Dam: Royal Discovery

Owner: No. 1 Stable

Breeder: C. Gordon Scott

Jockey: Todd Kabel

“He was a tough little stayer. He was owned by a lovely group of people, who truly enjoy going to the races. He was like Market Control, in a sense, but he was more talented. I ran him in the Plate the same way I did with With Approval, in the aspect that I knew he would get the distance. Again, I was searching for a rider, and I was fortunate enough to get Todd Kabel, who suited him well. He was supposed to be riding the favourite (Freedom Fleet), but they brought Mike Smith into ride him. I thought we could beat the favourite with the distance of the race and that is exactly what happened.

“He was just a solidly decent horse, who did well enough to go to the first Dubai World Cup in 1996. He actually traveled over there with Cigar. Regal Discovery wasn’t good enough to win that race, but he took us on a lovely trip, and we were very fond of him.”

Peteski (1993)

Sire: Affirmed

Dam: Vive

Owner: Earle Mack

Breeder: Barry Schwartz

Jockey: Craig Perret

“He had one start at 2 for another trainer. It was interesting because I had run a horse, Cheery Knight, in that race. I knew that there was a 2-year-old that people were very high on and I was running a horse who didn’t want to go short but that I wanted to get a race into. Cheery Knight won the race. At the time, I said I wasn’t going to take any more horses, but I talked myself into taking on Peteski, a horse who I ended up running against on that day at Greenwood.

“I took Peteski to Florida with me over the winter and he was very rank. I didn’t start him in Florida that winter. I worked on getting him to settle and we eventually took him to Keeneland in the spring for his first start at 3. I wanted to get him a race where I could watch him and see if he would settle. He did and he finished a good second. He went from there to Woodbine where he broke his maiden. He then won a pair of allowance races and then finished second in the Plate Trial. From there, he won the Plate 14 days later, the Prince of Wales was 21 days after that and Breeders’ Stakes, which was 21 days after that, to win the Triple Crown. And then, 28 days later, he won the Molson Export Million (G2). It was a lot of races in a relatively short period, but he was always up for the task. In his final race, he was third in the Super Derby (G1). He was a really, really good horse, very talented. If he would have raced at 4, he would have been a superb turf horse.”

Alydeed (1992)

Sire: Shadeed

Dam: Bialy

Owner: Kinghaven Farms

Breeder: Anderson Farms

Jockey: Craig Perret

“He was another very special horse, but he had some very serious idiosyncrasies. He was a very, very talented horse, but also, a very unlucky horse. As a 2-year-old, he was so talented that I started him off in the Victoria Stakes, and he won that, which was his only start that year because he chipped a knee in his following work. He came back and in his first 3-year-old start, at the allowance level, he romped by 9 ½ lengths at 6 ½ furlongs over the dirt, setting the track record which had been held for over 20 years. He was then what I thought was a bad third in the What a Pleasure Stakes, a Grade 3 race, at the end of March. I was disappointed, but then we found out he came out of it with a 104 temperature, which he had for quite a few days. We had wanted to run him in the Lexington Stakes in April to be ready for the Kentucky Derby in May. The Lexington came up a sea of mud, which he could not stand up in, so that crushed the idea of going to the Derby. We went in the Derby Trial, at one mile, the week before the Derby, and he won that very easily. He just got beat in the Preakness, finishing second, and then he came back to Woodbine, where he won the Marine Stakes, Plate Trial and Plate. He went into the Prince of Wales, and it rained and rained the night before. I thought about not running him, but I felt he was a cinch to win the Triple Crown with his capabilities, so I talked myself into running him and thought he could handle it. He got caught down the lane and finished second. It was my fault.”

“At 4, he won the Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup Stakes (G3) and the Carter Handicap (G1) and was third in the Metropolitan (G1). But, by that time, he was getting impossible to train because he was a mental wreck. But he was super talented.”

Izvestia (1990)

Sire: Icecapade

Dam: Shy Spirit

Owner: Kinghaven Farms

Breeder: Kinghaven Farms Limited

Jockey: Don Seymour

“He was a super horse. He was the real deal. He won eight straight races from April 1990 to September of that same year. He won the Transylvania, Forerunner (G3), Heresy Breeders’ Cup, Plate Trial, Plate, Prince of Wales, Breeders’ Stakes and Molson Export Million (G2). The Transylvania and Forerunner were only 13 days apart and at different distances. So, it was a lot to ask, but he did it. He had a lot of races in a relatively short time, but he trotted through all those and won eight straight. He was a very special horse.”

With Approval (1989)

Sire: Caro (IRE)

Dam: Passing Mood

Owner: Kinghaven Farms

Breeder: Kinghaven Farms Limited

Jockey: Don Seymour

“He was all class. As a 2-year-old, I only ran him twice. He won first time out and then won the Display Stakes in his next start. I never thought he would like the dirt very much – and he didn’t – but he was such a good horse that he could win on it. He went on a tear in his 3-year-old season when he won the Marine, Plate Trial, Plate, Prince of Wales and Breeders’ Stakes. It was a squeaker by a nose in the Plate and then he won the Prince of Wales by a nose, before winning the Breeders’ Stakes easily (7 ½ lengths).

“He got hurt badly after the Triple Crown and couldn’t get out of his stall for weeks and months. We didn’t think he would race again, but we got him straightened away eventually. But it was touch and go for quite a while.

“At 4, he was just as outstanding. He won the Bowling Green in a world-record time for a mile and three-eights, and the Tidal, both Grade 2 races, and was second in the Grade 1 Arlington and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. He was a world-class horse, a big strong, lovely horse.”

Market Control (1987)

Sire: Foolish Pleasure

Dam: Amerigirl

Owner: Kinghaven Farms

Breeder: Kinghaven Farms Limited

Jockey: Ken Skinner

“He was just a claimer type of horse. He raced six times before breaking his maiden. He started coming around after he won two-straight races in May and June (of 1987). I was looking for a race at Woodbine, but couldn’t find one that made sense, timing-wise, so we took him to Detroit to race in the Piston Stakes, which was a two-turn distance. He finished third, but it was a very good race. A horse fell in front of him and he had to jump over him. He finished very strongly and that is what triggered me to go to the Plate, in 15 days time. I knew a mile and a quarter would be prime for him and I didn’t think it would be for a lot of the other horses. That is basically how we won it.

“No one gave him much consideration, and it was tough finding a rider for him. It just happened that Kenny [Skinner] came into town, so I put him on and they won.”

Norcliffe (1976)

Sire: Buckpasser

Dam: Drama School

Owner: Norcliffe Stable

Breeder: E.P. Taylor

Jockey: Jeff Fell

“I rode Norcliffe all the time, by myself. I brought him down to Payson Park in Florida as a yearling in 1974 and rode him every day. He was a very, very nice horse. He was a laid-back horse and only did what you asked him to do.

“At 2, he was third in the Summer Stakes, won the Coronation Futurity and was second in the Cup & Saucer. He is the only horse to have won the Coronation Futurity and Plate since 1976. At 3, he won two allowance races and then the Plate Trial. Thirteen days later, he won the Plate on June 26. He also won the Prince of Wales, which was run at Fort Erie on September 4 on the turf.”

“He was a very well-bred horse, and I knew he could run all day. I believed he could win the Plate, and he went out and did it. To have my parents there to see it and to win it early in my career was very special. He won 14 of his 33 races, including nine stakes, and he also had eight seconds.”

Chris Lomon, Woodbine