The King’s Plate Mohawk Watch Party builds excitement for the elimination races at Wellwood and Peaceful Way.

by Melissa Keith

Before two-year-old royal-bred trotters take to the track at Woodbine Mohawk Park this Saturday night (August 17), the grandstand in Campbellville, Ontario, will play host to a very different generation of racing royalty.

The elimination races for the William Wellwood (open) and Peaceful Way (filly) Stakes for first-year trotters bring Grand Circuit action back to Mohawk for the first time since June 27-28, when the Tompkins-Geers Stakes divisions for two-year-olds of both gaits were run there for the first time.

The elimination races at Wellwood and Peaceful Way follow the biggest race in Canadian horse racing: the 165th King’s (formerly Queen’s) Plate, which takes place on Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.

While many harness racetracks celebrate Kentucky Derby Day with on-track festivities that accompany the simulcast, Woodbine Mohawk Park is taking the 2024 King’s Plate to a new level.

Woodbine Entertainment’s senior communications manager told HRU that the idea of ​​bringing the Woodbine Racetrack party to Woodbine Mohawk Park had been in development for many months.

“It came up during planning over the winter months,” said Mark McKelvie. “When we were getting ready for this year’s King’s Plate at Woodbine, it was on a Saturday. It’s usually on a Sunday when we’re not racing at Mohawk, but because it’s on a Saturday, we have racing at Mohawk that night, which means we could have a viewing party there.”

McKelvie said racegoers from Milton and the surrounding area may not be able to travel to Woodbine for the King’s Plate race, where the first race starts at 12:25 p.m. ET, “but if they want to be at Mohawk … they can still enjoy Canada’s most prestigious horse race.”

The King’s Plate, with a purse of $1 million, begins at 6:10 p.m. ET. The Mohawks Viewing Party runs all afternoon, with grandstand doors opening at noon. Admission is free.

“We’re a company,” said McKelvie, “so it only made sense that Mohawk would add something extra to make the day extra special.”

“Fans have the opportunity to dress like they’re going to the King’s Plate, so put on your best, whether it’s a hat, fascinator or three-piece suit… Whatever you wear on King’s Plate Day (at Woodbine), we want you to get in that spirit at Mohawk.”

There will be live music from 4 to 6 p.m. The location is yet to be announced, but McKelvie says it is “weather dependent.”

“We’re just trying to create the party atmosphere that people would experience locally in Woodbine,” McKelvie said. “We’re just trying to recreate that in Mohawk.”

McKelvie recommends that customers make reservations in advance to secure seating at Mohawk Harvest Kitchen and Trackside Bar & Patio.

“The restaurants will both be open,” he said. “Normally the restaurants would only be open during live racing. There will be special drinks served and there will be some additional food options that would not be available on a normal day.”

“For die-hard horse lovers there is also the possibility to reserve their cabins.”

Work booths can be booked by calling 647-394-8319; restaurant reservations can be made online at woodbine.com/mohawk/dining-at-mohawk/.

Although Mohawk’s simulcast area is open every Saturday, McKelvie said staff expected a larger crowd than usual.

“I expect a lot of people will probably come a little later in the afternoon, just before the King’s Plate, and then stay for the live harness racing,” he said.

Tickets for King’s Plate Day at Woodbine Racetrack sold out quickly.

“We’re doing pretty well with ticket sales,” McKelvie said on Monday (August 12). “We’re probably 80 percent sold out right now, if not more. We’re expecting a really good crowd.”

The Mohawk Watch Party is presented as a crossover event with something for fans of both races represented by Woodbine.

“There’s a pretty big following for the Woodbine product, whether it’s Standardbred or Thoroughbred,” McKelvie said. “I’m in the unique position of working with both breeds. I find that on a Saturday, when the Thoroughbreds finish around 7 p.m. and Mohawk starts, there are still a lot of horse gamblers there who have been there all afternoon betting on Mohawk as well.”

This year’s King’s Plate race is expected to draw a large crowd, coming shortly after 2022 Queen’s Plate winner Moira’s victory in the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes on Aug. 11 at Colonial Downs. Her stakes record of 2:01.48 in the mile-and-a-half Canadian Triple Crown jewel came in the last Queen’s Plate, which was renamed after King Charles following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

“It’s worth noting that we have network (television) coverage of the King’s Plate, a two-hour show on Sportsnet and Citytv this Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., so we’ll use that to show everything that’s happening around the King’s Plate,” McKelvie said. “It’s much more than a horse race.”

The King’s Plate draws people who would otherwise spend little time at a racetrack, and McKelvie said that makes the show a powerful tool for promoting racing in Ontario.

“I think any time we’re on the air at a race, whether it’s Thoroughbred or Standardbred, we’re definitely raising awareness for people to go to their local racetracks,” he said. “Whether it’s through Ontario Racing’s ‘Unfiltered’ show or the advertising campaigns they do, there’s a big campaign on TV to get people to their local racetracks.

“A race like the King’s Plate or the North America Cup are opportunities to bring people to the track, have a big party, a big event. I think whether you’re a fan of Thoroughbred or Standardbred racing, you can go to either and have a lot of fun. I think that’s where the connection lies: just getting people to the track, one way or another.”

A good horse may just be a good horse, with more similarities than differences among his followers today. Moira, Canada’s 2022 Thoroughbred of the Year, won the Queen’s Plate for X-Men Racing, an ownership group that included well-known Standardbred owners John Fielding, Robert LeBlanc, Clay Horner, Daniel Plouffe and David Anderson.

“I love it when I talk to trainers and drivers at Mohawk,” McKelvie said. “They pay attention to what’s going on on the Thoroughbred side and vice versa. There are quite a few people on the Thoroughbred side, whether owners or trainers, who, if they’re from Ontario, usually have that harness racing experience just because of the number of (harness) tracks in different parts of the province, compared to only two Thoroughbred tracks and one Quarter Horse track.”

After the King’s Plate party, harness racing is once again the focus at Mohawk.

“We’ve had really good attendance at the racetrack all summer,” McKelvie said. “Saturday night is kind of the start of the Grand Circuit meeting: we’ve got the elimination races at Wellwood and Peaceful Way. So we’re seeing an increase in our sales and betting and our attendance at the racetrack from that Saturday through to the Mohawk Million (September 21).”