Re-scheduled King’s Plate – bursting with Oshawa and Durham history – to run Friday afternoon in Toronto

After racing through world wars and pandemics, a little monsoon rain wasn’t going cancel the oldest continually run horse race in North America.

The Kings Plate, re-named last year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension to the throne of her son, King Charles III, was supposed to run last weekend but rains that caused massive flooding all around the GTA also put a halt to racing at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack, pushing the race to Friday afternoon.

The race, which has been held at various locations (including Whitby) since 1860, has been postponed twice before but each time Canada’s best three-year-old thoroughbreds made it the starting line before the calendar year was out.

In 1918, with war raging, horseracing was cancelled but organizers got the race moved to a Red Cross horse show for charity, the only horse race in the country that year. Just over a century later, while the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to most forms of entertainment, the 2020 race was moved from its June 27 slot to September 27, where it was won by Uxbridge-owned (and one-eyed) Mighty Heart.

The race was called the Queen’s Plate (in honour of Queen Victoria) from 1860 to 1902, when it became the King’s Plate upon the monarch’s death. The race reverted to the Queen’s Plate in 1952 when Queen Elizabeth took the throne.

There’s plenty of historical Oshawa connections in the race, which has been held at the ‘new’ Woodbine, the giant track built by Toronto industrialist (and Oshawa racing icon) E.P. Taylor, since 1956. Taylor and his north Oshawa Windfield Farms operations has won the race 11 times (including 1964 with racing legend Northern Dancer), trailing only the Seagram family (20) of Waterloo.

Colonel Sam McLaughlin, who sold his racing operations to Taylor, won the race in 1934 and again in 1947-48 under the Parkwood Stables banner.

Oshawa’s own Sandy Hawley is tied with Robin Platts and Avelino Gomez with most wins by a jockey, with four.

Pete McCann, Taylor’s head trainer from 1950-1971, trained six winners, which is tied for third on the all-time list.

This year patrons to the King’s Plate will get to watch the action for free, with refunds given to all those who bought tickets to last Saturday’s re-scheduled race.

My Boy Prince is expected to go off as the favourite, with post time at 5:34 p.m.