In The Money Telegraph
Saturday, August 15, 2026 · By ITM Staff
King’s Plate Day: Luster Goes for Glory
Canada’s biggest day has arrived. The 167th King’s Plate goes this evening at Woodbine — the $1 million, mile-and-a-quarter first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, North America’s oldest continuously run race — with the feature carded for 6:12 p.m. ET atop a 13-race program (first post 12:30). A field of 12 sophomores lines up over the Tapeta, and the one they all have to beat is a filly.
Luster, who romped by 5½ lengths in the Woodbine Oaks, is the even-money favorite and bids to become just the 40th filly to win the historic race. Hall of Famer John Velazquez — who won this race aboard the filly Wonder Gadot in 2018 — keeps the mount for Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Josie Carroll, a three-time Plate winner, and owners Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen. She takes on colts for the first time, but the idea travels well here: fillies have taken five of the last 12 renewals, Moira setting a track record among them in 2022. Her chief threats are familiar faces — Dixie Law, the other filly in the field and the only rival to beat her this year, and Plate Trial winner HighwayTotheMoon, both from Dale Desruisseaux’s barn. No Canadian-bred has swept the Triple Crown since Wando in 2003. PTF has a full horse-by-horse guide at At The Races, and he’s with the favorite — read it here.
ITM is on the ground all day: Mikee P and Nick Tammaro are both up at Woodbine, and PTF and Mikee P went through the day’s marquee wager — the $5 All-Stakes Pick 3, a 15%-takeout sequence running the Grade 3 Bold Venture, the Catch a Glimpse, and the Plate itself, with both anchoring Luster. Watch their full walk-through below.
For a data-driven angle, PTF also sat down with Total Performance Data’s Adam Mills, whose numbers back the favorite: Luster’s Oaks was among the fastest of the year at the track and trip, and she did it all without being asked. Mills makes Brachetto his exotics play and flags her one vulnerability — the shortest stride of the main players, which could cost her if she’s forced wide. Watch the TPD King’s Plate preview →
The Fair Hill Story Deepens
The betting story PTF has covered all week — the six-figure sting on British bookmakers tied to a group of Fair Hill–prepped runners — took another turn this week, and it remains the talk of the sport. Angel Quiroz, the trainer at the center of it, has been charged by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit with a doping violation: a positive test for albuterol in a sample from the filly Bonita Rough, taken after a July 10 breeze at Fair Hill. He faces a possible two-year ban.
A few things are worth keeping straight. Albuterol is a bronchodilator — permitted via inhaler but banned when administered any other way, which HIWU alleges was the case here — so it’s a notable finding. But it’s a separate matter from the wagering: Bonita Rough was not among the August 9 runners, and this charge concerns the medication positive, not the bets. Whether the two threads connect is for the investigation to determine, and HISA has said it won’t speculate on the outcome.
Quiroz has not been suspended and can request a hearing before a neutral arbitrator. In the days since, the filly’s full brother, Bravo Rough, was scratched by stewards from a race at Mountaineer, and Quiroz’s lone entry since the charge, Gran Campanero at Delaware Park on Friday, was scratched. He continues to deny any wrongdoing in the betting matter. The investigation — involving Fair Hill, HISA and HIWU, NYRA, the New Jersey Racing Commission, and the TRPB — remains open. More at the Paulick Report, and PTF’s original account is at At The Races.
Saratoga Saturday: A Grade 1 on the Turf
The Spa answers with its own Grade 1: the Christophe Clement Turf Stakes, the turf feature renamed this summer in honor of the late trainer, a five-time winner of the race in its former guise as the Sword Dancer and a posthumous Hall of Fame inductee just last week. Fittingly, his son Miguel — who now carries on the stable — saddles the veteran Tawny Port, one of his father’s final runners and the heart horse of the field. The one they may all have to beat, though, is a European invader: Ancient Egypt ships in for Amo Racing chasing a “Win and You’re In’’ ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Turf. PTF has a full horse-by-horse guide at At The Races — read it here — and he and JK went through the whole card, including a Pick 6 they’re attacking with a couple of live angles. Watch below.
And for the juveniles, JK teamed with Keeneland Sales’ Cormac Breathnach on Baby Talk to preview the weekend’s loaded two-year-old maidens. Watch Baby Talk →
More to Play
Monmouth — Iselin Day. The Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin headlines an eight-race card, with East Avenue, Chunk of Gold, and Bishops Bay set to decide it. Eric Solomon has the full card, and Mikee P and Ryan Anderson went through the Late Pick 4. Solomon’s card · Watch the Pick 4 preview
Colonial — big fields on the grass. A pair of VA-restricted stakes headline, and Michael Domabyl is most looking forward to turf specialist Determined Kingdom in Race 7. Domabyl has the card, and he joined Mikee P for spot plays. Domabyl’s card · Watch the spot plays
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Plate Day, Covered
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More all weekend at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.
