W. K. Lis
Superstar
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Queen's Plate, a stakes race for thoroughbred horses, was first run at Toronto's Carleton Race Course on 27 June 1860. The course was built on the estate of William Conway Keele, where the Toronto Turf Club had established its headquarters. It received royal assent by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1918 and 1919, to retain its perpetuity during World War I, the 59th and 60th runnings were staged as features of a Red Cross Horse Show in Toronto, the only racing held those 2 years. Thus, it is the oldest uninterrupted stakes race on the continent. (The Kentucky Derby's inaugural was held in 1875.)
For several decades in the 19th century, this area was the site of one of Toronto’s most popular horse racing venues, the Carleton Race Course. Before colonization, the land, just east of the Humber River arm of the Toronto Carrying Place, was the territory of the Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit River First Nations.
The racecourse was built by William Conroy Keele on his farm in 1857. It became the home of the Toronto Turf Club and in 1859 the club sought royal patronage for an annual horse racing prize. Queen Victoria awarded a prize of 50 guineas. The first Queen’s Plate was held here in June 1860. The race was advertised as: “Open to all horses bred in Upper Canada, which have never won public money.” Eight horses entered the race and five-year-old Don Juan won in front of an audience of about 3,000.
The Carleton Race Course was the home of the Queen’s Plate for the next three years. From 1864 to 1882, the event was held at changing venues throughout Southern Ontario until the race was taken over by the Ontario Jockey Club and permanently held at Woodbine Park racetrack.
Following the death of William Conroy Keele, his estate was gradually divided. Much of it, including the racecourse, was sold in 1882 to developer Daniel Webster Clendenan, who turned the land into what became the Village of West Toronto Junction.
Produced 2018
Location: 204 High Park Ave
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The first four renewals were run at Carleton racetrack. After that, the Queen's Plate became a "movable feast", with politicians from all over modern-day Ontario vying to host the race in their constituency. Fifteen different race tracks hosted the race over the next two decades, with distances varying from one to two miles.
In 1883, the race moved to Old Woodbine, located in eastern Toronto along Lake Ontario. The race continued to be held at Old Woodbine until that track was replaced by "New" Woodbine in northern Toronto in 1956. The race has been run at Woodbine ever since. In 2006, Woodbine changed the track surface for the main track from natural dirt to a synthetic surface known as Polytrack. In 2016, the surface was changed to Tapeta.
Because of the change in racing surfaces, Woodbine maintains several sets of track and stakes records. The fastest time for the race on the original dirt surface at the current 1+1⁄4 mi (2 km) distance is 2:01 4/5, set by Kinghaven Farms' Izvestia in 1990. The current stakes record (the fastest all-time) is 2:01.48, set by Moira in 2022 on Tapeta.