TORONTO, August 12, 2026 – “It’s a million dollars and he is going to be running at them.” Josie Carroll is balancing a million different things at her barn during morning training, but she certainly does not mince words about her Plate contender, Don Ique. Wearing a striking grey suit from hooves to head, Don Ique is coming off a fifth-place Plate Trial finish heading into the King’s Plate on Saturday, August 15. Initially, Don Ique was not being pointed towards the Plate but something about his last performance stood out to his Hall of Fame conditioner. “Instead of the Plate I was really focusing on going to the Breeders’ with him, the mile and a half on the turf but off of that race (the Plate Trial) – that race really turned me around. When I saw that I said, ‘I think this horse is going to be closing, we better give him a shot.” The King’s Plate is not just a horse race. It’s much more. The Plate is something horse owners, breeders, and trainers like Carroll continually strive to add to their resume. Held annually at Woodbine Racetrack, the marquee event is open to Ontario-bred three-year-olds, both fillies and colts (and geldings) who showcase their stamina going a 1 ¼ mile over the tapeta course. The Plate is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, followed by the Prince of Wales Stakes and then the Breeders’ Stakes. This year’s Plate marks the 167th running of the historic race, featuring a probable field of a dozen other horses. Carroll is looking to add a fourth Plate to her resume. Her prior Plate champs include, Mighty Heart (2020), Inglorious (2011), and Edenwold (2006). This year Carroll will send out two contenders, Don Ique and Luster. The latter, a grey filly and daughter of Knicks Go won the Gr. 3 Selene Stakes on June 27th followed by an impressive win in the Woodbine Oaks last month. While Luster has garnered favourable attention heading into Plate, her stablemate, Don Ique, should not be discounted. And their trainer knows that all too well. “Two very different horses, two very different running styles and that helps me because they are not going to interfere with each other. They are going to train very differently into the race. Entirely different strategies with both horses,” said Carroll. Don Ique is owned by Mike Cooke. Cooke breaks yearlings out of Classic Mile in Ocala, Florida. Cooke’s hopeful is a son of Australian-bred turf champ, Astern out of the French-bred mare, Iquique. While Astern was known for his turn of foot on the grass, it is his sire, KY bred, Medaglia d’Oro that adds even more value to the family line. After all, the sire won multiple graded stakes including the 1 ¼ mile Gr. 1 Travers Stakes (2002) on the dirt at Saratoga. Without getting into the nitty gritty of breeding lines, on the surface of things Don Ique’s family lineage indicates that he can go the distance. His trainer is inclined to feel that way too. “This horse will get a mile and a quarter. I don’t know if he will get a mile and a quarter with the best horses, but he is going to get a mile and a quarter. I think he is going to be running on end if they are coming back at all, so I thought it was worth giving him a try,” said Carroll. Unlike some other Plate contenders, Don Ique is also in the unique position of having run over three different surfaces already. In 2025, the grey colt began his racing career, south of the border at Horseshoe Indianapolis, where he ran on both the dirt and turf. This year, under the tutelage of Carroll, Don Ique has already run three times over Woodbine’s tapeta course. “We were able to run him protected for $40k on the first outing, which gave the horse a lot of confidence and put him in a nice spot. And then off of that race I kind of threw him to the wolves and he bounced in that race,” said Carroll. On May 24th, the Ontario-bred colt won an allowance race going a mile and sixteenth on the tapeta. On June 14th, he was sent out for an allowance optional claiming race which was also open to older horses who’ve run a considerable number of races compared to his seven starts. In that race, Don Ique finished at the back of the ten-horse field. On July 19, Don Ique found himself in the Plate Trial Stakes, the final prep race for the King’s Plate. During the mile and one eighth race (nine furlongs), the colt continued to gain momentum towards the back end of the race producing a game effort to finish fifth. Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson will be aboard Don Ique in the Plate. “Emma knows how to finish on a horse, and she is a very strong finisher on a horse. She will suit this horse very much,” said Carroll. Wilson has already worked Don Ique twice heading into the Plate. Hopping off the grey colt after his second work on August 6th, she is pretty happy with the engine she’s steering in the historic route race. “Horses have to earn their position going into a race like this and this horse has.” Wilson added: “He has a barn backing him that knows how to get the job done. Josie Carroll has won the Plate multiple times, and she knows how to bring them around. As she said it, she considers this horse a bit of a sleeper.” While Wilson has worked Don Ique in the morning, the Plate marks the first time the jock will be race riding the colt. In thoroughbred racing, this is not an uncommon path of events. Generally speaking, riders just don’t ‘happen’ upon their mounts. It’s earned through the jock’s past performances, by building trust with a trainer or racing outfit, and of course by being paired with an effective jockey agent. Wilson has been race riding for twenty-two years, and during that time she has ridden and won for many different trainers including Carroll. Her agent, Barbadian-born Leroy Trotman is well-known to Woodbine’s circuit having represented some of the best veteran riders including champion rider, Patrick Husbands. During morning training on Woodbine’s backstretch, Trotman can be found walking from barn to barn to find mounts for not just Wilson, but also for his other two jocks, champion rider, Sahin Civaci and the up-and-coming apprentice, Christoff Douglas. As the highest earning female jock of all time, (an achievement earned over two years ago), Wilson has established herself as one to be reckoned with. In terms of Plate performances, Wilson guided Mike Fox to victory in the 2007 Queen’s Plate. With that said, Don Ique is being paired and piloted by a well-respected veteran in Woodbine’s jock colony. Although Wilson’s mount is not the favoured of Carroll’s two Plate contenders, she remains cautiously optimistic about Don Ique’s ability heading into the race. “Developing these horses into peak form on the day is an important task and it’s not an easy thing to do. I’m not the one that manages them from a two-year-old all the way through to this day. I think that the Plate Trial effort for this horse was an example of where he is at in his development.” Wilson added: “When you watch that race and see him regain his composure into the race and run on – that is his style. He builds into his rhythm and into his stride so I think with the weight (126 lbs) and the distance and now having that experience he is absolutely the type of horse that you can look at his form and think this horse has a chance.” For Wilson, this year’s Plate run with Don Ique could be her time to add yet another Plate win to her resume. For those who are not already familiar with Wilson, this rider oozes a love for this sport and consistently engages with fans in person while also posting about her upcoming mounts across her social media channels. And yes, she occasionally saves a reporter mid interview from being washed down outside of Carroll’s barn with a horse on the wash bay. Most importantly, Wilson represents this sport to the best of her ability and she does not take any race riding opportunity lightly. Especially given the several injuries she’s overcome in the last few years including a fractured neck and pelvis in 2024 and then a fractured collarbone last summer. “I’m very grateful to be here again. To throw my helmet on and throw my leg over a horse in the big race. That to me, whatever injury it was, however serious or minor has always been the goal and the focus. So, to me this is not this big of a surprise. I’m really grateful, and to know that this time last year I was sitting in the grandstand with my arm in a sling, I remember how I felt watching the race go by and I’m very excited to be out there to prove myself again,” said Wilson. So, the big question remains, can Wilson outfox them and eliminate any grey area about Don Ique’s Plate chances? That answer will have to wait until this coming Saturday when the gates fly open and yet another piece of history gets etched in the racing books. -30- Hayley Morrison, for Woodbine Share This:Share
