ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse looks to have a foothold on Friday’s $1 million King’s Plate at Woodbine when he sends out My Boy Prince, Essex Serpent, and Midnight Mascot in the 165th running of North America’s oldest annual stakes. The 1 1/4-mile Tapeta event for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds could be a showdown between reigning Canadian champion 2-year-old male My Boy Prince and upstart Essex Serpent. They were the two top choices in the early betting for the King’s Plate last Saturday before the card was canceled after the fifth race due to unsafe track conditions resulting from torrential rainfall. Casse said the postponement led him to work his King’s Plate entrants on Sunday. “We called an audible on Sunday morning,” Casse said. “I don’t mind going into a race 10, 12 days without breezing. I actually quite like it. I got to looking on Saturday night, and we were going to be almost three weeks [without a work] with some of them, so I breezed them just easy. I got to watch them breeze before I headed back to Saratoga.” Campaigned by Sovereign Award-winning owner Gary Barber, My Boy Prince was on top of his game when winning his first two starts of the meet convincingly, in a pair of sprint stakes. Most recently in the 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial Stakes, My Boy Prince missed the break before parlaying a three-wide stalking trip into a 1 1/4-length win under Sahin Civaci. “He broke a little bad, but he pulled through,” Civaci said. “The pace was [slow]. I got up into a nice spot. He has tactical speed. I didn’t mind him sitting off the pace, just because there’s going to be a lot of horses in the King’s Plate and anything could happen. Sometimes, he can’t be on the lead, so I wanted to see if he could relax a little bit, and he did relax.” :: 2024 King's Plate: Get odds, comments, analysis, and news for the 165th running of the King's Plate at Woodbine Unraced at 2, Essex Serpent won his debut on opening day of the meet before running second to My Boy Prince when going from 5 1/2 furlongs to seven furlongs in the Queenston Stakes. He helped set a fast pace over a speed-friendly track when taking the Grade 3 Marine over next-out Ellis Park stakes winner Cameo Performance, earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. “We had some issues with him, and that’s why he never ran as a 2-year-old,” Casse said. “We sent him to our training center in Ocala and gave him some time off. He trained really well this winter. So, when we sent him up to Woodbine in the spring, we were expecting big things from him.” Casse said Essex Serpent ran to his expectations in the 1 1/16-mile Marine. “He showed that he could run long and he ran a good number,” Casse said. “That race should move him forward.” Midnight Mascot, like Essex Serpent, is owned by Manfred and Penny Conrad. He took the six-furlong Woodstock Stakes in his season opener before finishing a distant third behind My Boy Prince in the seven-furlong King Corrie Stakes. In the Marine, Midnight Mascot mounted a wide rally from well back for third. “I think we learned a lot last time out,” Casse said. “He sat back, instead of showing speed, and made a nice run. We saw a big step up from his previous race. If he were to step up half as much as he did from his last race, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.” Midnight Mascot was the 9-2 third choice in the wagering about 2 1/2 hours before the King’s Plate was to be run. My Boy Prince was 5-2 and Essex Serpent 7-2. Trainer Kevin Attard, who won the 2022 King’s Plate with Woodbine Oaks winner Moira, entered Oaks runner-up Caitlinhergrtness, a supplement, along with Pierre, Jokestar, and Bedard. Caitlinhergrtness was campaigned on dirt by trainer Todd Pletcher before winning a July 6 allowance on the inner turf here for Attard. Two weeks later, she was overhauled in the final strides by Kin’s Concerto in the nine-furlong Woodbine Oaks, her first race on Tapeta. “Things are going in the right direction for her,” Attard said. “I jammed her back in from that allowance race to the Oaks. She was sent to me a little later than what was ideal. We threw a lot at her in a short period of time, but she ran really well in the Oaks. She came out of it in good order. She’s training really well. We’re expecting her to take another step forward.” :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Pierre hit the board in back-to-back allowance routes on different surfaces after beating maidens in his season opener. “I really like him a lot,” Attard said. “I think he’s still learning, figuring things out. I think he’s a horse who has a lot of ability, and with the right pace setup, he could be a horse to keep an eye on.” Jokestar was competitive in allowance company before a nonthreatening fifth in the Plate Trial. “He was hindered by the pace in the Plate Trial,” Attard said. “I don’t think that was him at his best. There’s room for improvement. He’s definitely a horse who should get 10 furlongs. He’s a big, strong horse.” Bedard is a well-bred maiden named after young National Hockey League star Connor Bedard. He shares the same ownership group as Moira – X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing. Bedard was scratched from the King’s Plate on Saturday due to a medication issue but is expected to run Friday. Trainer Harold Ladouceur will saddle the Stronach Stables runners Rafaroo and Vitality. Rafaroo rallied for second as a longshot in the Plate Trial, a breakout race in his second career start that didn’t surprise Ladouceur. He’s trying to become the first maiden to win the King’s Plate since Scatter the Gold in 2000 and the first to prevail in his third career start since the Stronach-owned Awesome Again in 1997. “We knew he was good,” Ladouceur said. “He had a troubled trip in his first race. There was a lot of horse left. He just didn’t get to run to his full potential, but he came back and ran huge in the [Trial]. I was so proud of him. He showed he could run and was still a little green.” Ladouceur said some significant changes enabled Vitality to prevail in a July 19 maiden special in his second outing of the year. “Vitality was first-time gelding and first-time Lasix,” Ladouceur explained. “That paid off big. He’s not push-button. You have to really ride him. The jockeys really have to make him go. But once he gets going, there’s a lot of horse there. Once he got clear, he kept widening on them. He ran huge.” Completing the 13-horse field are Friendly Ghost, No More Options, Roar of the Crowd, and Thor’s Cause. The King’s Plate is the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. It will be followed by the Prince of Wales Stakes over 1 3/16 miles on the dirt Sept. 10 at Fort Erie and the Breeders’ Stakes going 1 1/2 miles on the grass Sept. 29 at Woodbine. Post time is 1:05 p.m. Eastern. The King’s Plate goes as the ninth of 12 races at 5:34 p.m. Eastern. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.