ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Catherine Day Phillips recorded a career high in wins at Woodbine in 2016 with 22 victories from 84 starters, highlighted by her first win in the Woodbine Oaks with Neshama. While those accomplishments might be tough to top in 2017, Day Phillips would be off to a great start if Guy Caballero gives her a first victory in the Queen’s Plate here on July 2.
Day Phillips has had five starters in the Queen’s Plate, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, and two finished second. A Bit O’Gold couldn’t catch Niigon in the final strides of the 2004 Queen’s Plate and went on to win the final two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown – the Prince of Wales and Breeders’ stakes – and win three graded stakes at 4. Mr. Foricos Two U was caught in deep stretch by Eye of the Leopard in the 2009 Queen’s Plate.
Day Phillips described the two losses, by three-quarters of a length and a neck, as “heartbreaking.”
© 2016 Catherine Day Phillips Racing Stable
