Queen’s Plate champion Safe Conduct tops 12-horse field for $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes
TORONTO — Safe Conduct returns to Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday, albeit on a different surface and with a different rider.
Safe Conduct captured the $1-million Queen’s Plate on Woodbine Racetrack’s Tapeta track Aug. 22 with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. On Sunday, Safe Conduct will lead a 12-horse field in the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes turf race with Woodbine’s Emma-Jayne Wilson as the rider.
Safe Conduct didn’t run in the $400,000 Prince of Wales, the second jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, at Fort Erie Racetrack on Sept. 14. The 1 3/16-mile dirt race was won by Haddassah.
“We would love, love, love to win the Canadian Triple Crown,” Safe Conduct’s trainer Phil Serpe said. “But we weighed it out and we thought that we would rather have a fresh horse to run a mile-and-a-half than take a chance running him on the dirt and then he goes backwards and we’re not even coming.”