Eye of the Leopard Sees Wire First in 67th Plate Trial Stakes

Sam-Son Farm colt, Eye of the Leopard, brought a fantastic finish to the 67th running of the Plate Trial this Sunday at Woodbine Racetrack. The son of A.P. Indy would get up late, driving for the wire, to win by a neck over Southdale in the one and one-eighth of a mile, $150,000 event. With his second win in two tries over the Woodbine poly, Eye of the Leopard, is now a top choice for the upcoming Queen's Plate later in June.

Race eight on the Sunday card at Woodbine was the feature to some of Canada's best three-year-olds vying for $150,000 purse and some respect, amongst rivals, going into the 150th Queen's Plate on June 21st.

It would be another windy day on the Toronto oval as the field of ten colts and geldings would break cleanly from the gate. Chantal Sutherland and Costalivin would take to the lead and dictate the pace, all the while Southdale would be right behind them down the backstretch, closely followed by favorite El Brujo and Active Duty. Coming around the final turn, leaders Costalivin and Southdale would battle, while eventual winner, Eye of the Leopard and jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva would make their move roughly three lengths off the lead and on the outside. Eye of the Leopard would come out at the top of the stretch in contention and way on the outside, where he would blow off El Brujo and begin a stretch duel with the Ian Black trained Southdale, just ahead of the Frostad pupil on the inside, off the rail. The rest of the field vied, but could not keep up with Southdale and Eye of the Leopard and the Sam-Son home-bred would pull out the victory by a neck over the son of Street Cry (Ire) in a time of 1:51.80. Finishing in third place was Roger Attfield's, 30-1 shot, Rapid Release and the fourth place finisher was Active Duty respectively so.

Eurico Rosa Da Silva was all smiles after the race with a fist in the air, headed toward the winner's circle. He would later retrace the win, "He (Eye of the Leopard) came into this race full of energy, I was very confident on him. The pace was not that hot, from what I expected, but you know, he made a big move and he fought to win and he galloped out good and that is the most important thing." When asked about the duo's chances going into the Queen's Plate, Da Silva replies, "He's a big, strong horse and we have a lot of faith in him. I like him a lot, I think he'll run a very big race that day."

For complete results to the 67th edition of the Plate Trial Stakes click here: http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/WO053109CAN8.pdf