Veteran trainer Roger Attfield chasing record ninth win at Queen’s Plate

Roger Attfield will again chase racing history on Sunday.

The veteran trainer will pursue a record ninth win in the $1-million Queen’s Plate when he sends Shakhimat postward at Woodbine Racetrack. Attfield earned his record-tying eighth victory in 2008 with Not Bourbon but the resident of Nobleton, Ont., hasn’t lost sleep worrying about breaking the mark.

“I’ve just tried to win the race and it would be wonderful for it to be the ninth one,” he said during a conference call Tuesday. “Last year I thought I had a really really good chance (with Danish Dynaformer, who was second) and it didn’t happen but it wasn’t the end of the world.

“It’s another year and if it happens, it happens.”

A win Sunday would certainly be the crowning achievement in an illustrious career. The 76-year-old native of Newbury, England, has registered over 1,800 career victories and eight times been named Canada’s top trainer.

He has conditioned three Triple Crown champions — Peteski in ’93, Izvestia in ’90 and With Approval in ’89 — and is a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, United States Racing Hall of Fame and Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

Attfield was an accomplished equestrian competitor in his native England before coming to Canada in 1970. Six years later, he won Canada’s most prestigious thoroughbred race for the first time with Norcliffe.

“The first one was very very important because when I first came to Canada I thought that would be nice if I could ever win that one day,” Attfield said. “There’s a lot of prestige with the race.

“It certainly didn’t hurt my career, that’s for sure.”

The 157th running of North America’s oldest continuously run stakes race has a probable 14-horse field. The draw will be held Wednesday at Woodbine.

Shakhimat was installed as the Plate Winterbook choice in February. But he was second to Amis Gizmo in the $150,000 Plate Trial at Woodbine on June 12.

“Obviously you’d like to win every race you can but the most important race was the Plate coming up,” Attfield said. “I thought it was a credible race for him.

“He has trained really well since that race, he’s in excellent shape. If he’s good enough and gets a clean run I’m sure he’s going to run very well.”

A big question is who will ride Amis Gizmo on Sunday. Luis Contreras rode the horse in the Plate Trial but is also the regular rider for Gamble’s Ghost, the other horse trainer Josie Carroll has in the 1 1/4-mile race.

Carroll said Contreras will decide which horse he prefers, adding former Plate champion Patrick Husbands will ride the other Sunday.

“They’re two very very different horses,” Carroll said. “He suits both horses and we thought we’d leave it up to him and let him take the horse he wanted.”

A hard-charging Gamble’s Ghost finished second to Neshama in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks earlier this month.

“I thought she showed a lot of talent in her last race,” said Carroll, a two-time Plate champion. “She had a very troubled trip, got knocked around and cut up a bit from being stepped on, then it looked like she was going to get there in the stretch and another horse came up and bothered her.

“Despite all that she just kept trying. She’s a tenacious filly.”

Trainer Graham Motion, who captured the 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, seeks his first Plate victory with Scholar Athlete. The American-owned horse has two wins in eight career starts.

Wild Desert in 2005 is the last American-based horse to win the Plate.

“This is always a race I’ve followed, I’ve read about,” Motion said. “I think as trainers we all aspire to compete in these races.

“I think in his last start he kind of propelled us to the Queen’s Plate. He was quite impressive in his maiden win (at Woodbine) and we sort of built things from there.”

Scholar Athlete won his last start, a 1/16-mile turf event, by 1 3/4 lengths at Belmont on May 12. Jose Ortiz rode the horse then and will be aboard Sunday.

Motion decided against running Scholar Athlete in the Plate Trial so the horse would be fresh for the Plate.

“I just felt he had already had four starts this year,” he said. “I didn’t want him to come up there three weeks before and perhaps have a hard race that might take away from the Queen’s Plate.”