{"id":2616,"date":"2019-04-06T14:34:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T18:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodbine.com\/queensplate\/queens-plate-winterbook-favourite-avies-flatter-wins-seasons-debut\/"},"modified":"2019-04-06T14:34:44","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T18:34:44","slug":"queens-plate-winterbook-favourite-avies-flatter-wins-seasons-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodbine.com\/kingsplate\/2019\/04\/06\/queens-plate-winterbook-favourite-avies-flatter-wins-seasons-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen’s Plate Winterbook favourite Avie’s Flatter wins his season’s debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, April 6, 2019 – Canadian-bred three-year-old Avie’s Flatter, the early 2019 Queen’s Plate favourite, made his season’s debut a winning one in the $150,000 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (Grade 3) on Friday at Keeneland.<\/p>\n

Owned by Ivan Dalos and trained by Josie Carroll, Avie\u2019s Flatter and jockey Javier Castellano held off the late-charging favourite Henley\u2019s Joy to win the 1 1\/16 mile stakes event in 1:42.86 on a firm turf.<\/p>\n

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Avie’s Flatter winning the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes on April 5 at Keeneland. (Keeneland\/Twitter Photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI really liked the way he did it today,” said Castellano in a post-race interview. “I’ll be honest, I\u2019ve been studying the horse since last year. We rode against each other. I like the way he does everything. He can be on the lead, he can cover up. Today, he broke a little slow. I didn\u2019t rush it… [Considering] the layoff and the way he performed today \u2013 very amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some pretty solid works at Palm Meadows (training center in Florida),” noted Carroll. “I thought he was in good order, but I did say to Javier, \u2018Keep him covered up a little bit and make sure you have some horse to finish because it has been a while since he ran.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a pretty special horse. Mr. Dalos breeds a really good horse, and this horse we thought was special from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avie’s Flatter is the early favourite in Woodbine’s predictive Queen’s Plate Winterbook<\/a> rankings as the son of Flatter out of the Empire Maker mare Avie\u2019s Empire went three-for-four last year while racing at his home track with feats including the Cup and Saucer Stakes and Coronation Futurity.<\/p>\n

Watch Avie’s Flatter’s winning sophomore debut below!<\/p>\n