Path To The Queen's Plate - The Southdale Diaries

What follows is the first installment of what will be a diary detailing the preparation and hard work that goes into training a contender for the Queen's Plate. While many racing fans only see the two minutes of action that occurs on the track, trainer Ian Black has graciously provided Triple Dead Heat with access to his barn as he conditions Southdale for North America's oldest thoroughbred graded stakes race. Over the coming weeks I will introduce you to the people behind the scenes, provide footage from workouts, and inside access to race day events. I'm thankful to Ian Black and his team for this opportunity and hope the resulting diary will be as much fun to read as it has been for me to experience.

Cast Of Characters

Southdale - Owned and bred by Rod Ferguson, the son of Street Cry (Ire) made his debut at Keeneland earlier this year finishing third in a troubled trip. On Sunday May 3rd, jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson steered Southdale to his first ever win. Bred to run two-turns, our young star has his eye on becoming the 150th winner of the Queen's Plate. Check out Southdale's profile picture on the left.
Southdale's Racing Charts
April 10, 2009-Keeneland-6.5F
May 9, 2009-Woodbine-7F
Recent Workouts
April 20, 2009 4F - 47.60 (Handily)
April 27, 2009 5F - 1:01.20 (Breezing)


Ian Black - The Reading native has spent a lifetime around horses. As a teenager, Black raced steeplechase horses in the north of England but opportunity brought the conditioner to Canada where he was soon employed by Frank Stronach. Black would eventually accept the chance of a lifetime to work as farm manager for Kinghaven Farms - a position Black would hold for thirty years. During that time, Black would be responsible for overseeing the care of countless Sovereign Award winners including Play The King, With Approval and Izvestia to name just a few. In 2005, Black officially took out his trainers' license and in 2006 would win his first solo Queen's Plate with Mike Fox. I profiled Ian Black for Down The Stretch in March of this year.


Jeff "Skippy" Bowen - Jeff Bowen is the assistant trainer for Ian Black. Bowen has been working with Ian Black since day one and is more than just a part of the team, he's also Black's son-in-law. Skippy is energetic, articulate and works with a smile on his face.







Emma-Jayne Wilson made history in 2006 becoming the first female jockey to win the Queen's Plate aboard the Ian Black trained Mike Fox. Wilson is an accomplished rider already having won an Eclipse Award for North America’s top apprentice rider, two Sovereign Awards for outstanding apprentice in Canada, and won a riding title at Woodbine. Wilson has been aboard Southdale for the majority of his workouts and guided the colt to his maiden-breaking score.






Aline Allain, a native of New Brunswick, is Southdale's groom. Allain has worked with Ian Black for four years and was the groom for Mike Fox during his run to the Queen's Plate. "I've known Southdale since he was a baby," says Allain. The cheerful groom is also responsible for the care of Woodbine stars Rahy's Attorney, Wollemi Pine and Southdale's little sister Pinafore Lady.















Wollemi Pine - Southdale's next-door neighbour runs fast on the poly but is a tongue-wagging prankster off the track. The galloping grey is a Woodbine track record holder and enjoys racing on both polytrack and turf. Living just next door to Wollemi Pine is Woodbine Mile champion Rahy's Attorney. Both Wollemi Pine and Rahy's Attorney took part in the Woodbine Mile competing against such racing stars as Ventura and Kip Deville. It's a star-studded hallway in barn 15








Pinafore Lady - Southdale's kid sister. Just a two year-old, she has yet to race but is tall and very pretty. If she can run like her brother then we may soon be cheering this filly from the Woodbine grandstand. Big brother Southie keeps a watchful on his sister, even making an appearance in the background of her profile shot!









Saturday May 9, 2009

My alarm went off at 6:45AM this morning and by 7:05AM I was on my way to Woodbine, jolting myself awake with steeped tea from Tim Hortons. It is by no means early as everyone on the backstretch will have been awake for hours feeding and prepping horses for the first round of works at 6:00AM. There was no question that it would rain today, it was simply a matter of when. Grey clouds were easily winning a tug of war with the sun, but arriving at Woodbine by 7:30AM I had no idea just how crazy the weather would get.

I strolled into Ian Black's stable on the backstretch and said good morning to a busy Mr. Black and was introduced to his assistant Jeff Bowen and Southdale's groom, Aline Allais. Aline has a warm smile and is very proud of the horses in her care.

A video introduction to Queen's Plate contender Southdale

Standing in front of Southie's stall with Aline, we are in very good company. To Southie's immediate left is Woodbine track record holder Wollemi Pine. This cheeky grey rumbled a mile and 70 yards in 1:40.13 to set the record and has earned in excess of $300K. To Wollemi Pine's left is Rahy's Attorney who won the million-dollar Woodbine Mile in 2008 and went on to race in Kyoto, Japan in the two million-dollar Mile Championship where he was beaten less than four lengths. To Southie's right is his kid sister, an Elusive Quality filly. She's a stunner.

In this video you can watch Wollemi Pine's impression of Gene Simmons!



Since Southdale will not be breezing until later this week, I walked out to the main track to watch Rahy's Attorney work out. The backstretch is surprisingly peaceful and I watched the horses work from the rail set to a staccato backbeat of thundering hooves.

When the weather threatened to turn for the worse, I cowardly made my way to the cafeteria to find shelter for my techno-geek bag of tricks including digital versions of a voice recorder, SLR camera and camcorder. Lightning lit up the sky and suddenly it became very windy. Within seconds, you could feel the temperature drop and later I would hear exercise riders describe being able to, "feel the electricity in the air." Hail the size of marbles pelted the backstretch. Check out the cluster of hail puddled in front of the barn in the photo on the left.

One exercise rider, whose name I didn't catch, said the freak weather reminded him of a tornado that hit Tampa Bay Downs back in the early 1990s. "The wind tore the roof right off the barn and ripped the doors off the stalls...the doors weren't broken, they just unscrewed themselves." The rider went on to say, "the horses just stayed in their stalls with the doors blown off." Scary.

Eventually the rain finally let up enough to finish the workouts and I had my chance to speak to Ian Black about Southdale.

TDH: How did Southdale come to be in your care?

IB: Rod and Margaret Ferguson, of St. Thomas, asked me to train him when he was a yearling. So I broke him in the fall of 2007 and had him all through 2008 until November. Because we thought he was such a nice horse and he'd been set back a couple times, we thought he should go to Florida and Roger Attfield was the obvious guy to do it for us.

TDH: Southdale ran his first ever race at Keeneland and performed well despite a troubled trip against a full field. What were your thoughts on that race?

IB: It was a very good race, he had lots of trouble, got some education and finished well, it was a very good race.

TDH: Southdale seems to have adjusted well to life at Woodbine and broke his maiden impressively in a full field. What did you like about that race?

IB: He galloped out really strong. The 13 hole was probably advantageous in a big field like that because you're out of trouble but he did it very nicely.

TDH: Having won the Queen's Plate previously with the partnership of Mike Fox and Emma-Jayne Wilson, will you be training Southdale in a similar fashion?

IB: They're different horses, so they will be trained differently. Emma got on this horse all last summer for me and got on him a couple times for Roger (Attfield) in Payson and I've had good luck with Emma, she rides well.

TDH: How important is a groom like Aline to the preparation?
IB: She is a very good groom. She looked after Mike Fox. She looks after Wollemi Pine. She looks after Rahy's Attorney and now she looks after Southdale. She's a big part of the success.

TDH: What's next for Southdale on the path to the Queen's Plate?
IB: He walked a couple days (since breaking his maiden) and has been galloping since. He will breeze on Wednesday.

TDH: When will Southdale race next?
IB: There's the Plate Trial or there is a conditioned race the week before. Sometimes the conditioned races don't go, but luckily it comes up first so if it doesn't go we can go to the Trial. They're both a mile and an eighth, same distance, but the conditioned race would obviously be more favourable.

It was a brief interview with a very busy man, but I'm looking forward to returning to Woodbine on Wednesday morning to watch Southdale work.


Rahy's Attorney and Wollemi Pine competed in the Woodbine Mile for Ian Black



Next up was an opportunity to speak with assistant trainer Jeff Bowen who provided a little background on the daily routine of the star colt.

JB: Southie's daily routine is pretty simple. He gets fed his breakfast at four a.m. He is usually one of the first ones to train for us. He trains at six or six thirty, one of the first two sets, because it's a little quieter then and you don't have the workers that you would after the break. He goes out and stands at the wire for a while. It helps him with patience and confidence and he gets to watch things happen for maybe twenty minutes. Then, he comes back to the barn and walks for half an hour, grazes for a bit and goes in. He gets his lunch and his dinner and that's his day.

TDH: What was it like to be part of a Queen's Plate victory with Mike Fox?
JB: Mike Fox was interesting as he came to us from Reade Baker and Reade had run him in all the major stakes races as a two year-old, so he came to us already headed towards the Queen's Plate. We just had to keep him right and keep him pointed forward. There was a lot of excitement in the way he won it. Half way down the lane we're thinking we might get fourth, but he dug in big and Emma gave him a great ride and made history that day.

TDH: What were your first impressions of Southdale?
JB: Southdale comes in with amazing breeding and is a gorgeous horse. Right from the first time we worked him, we let our own gallop girl work him, and he worked so strong and galloped out great we thought, 'it's time to get a jock on this horse.' From the first work on we were in love with the horse.

Jeff Bowen dressed warmly for an icy Woodbine backstretch


TDH: Southdale wasn't able to make it to the track as a two year-old so you sent him down to Florida to train with Roger Attfield who has won the Queen's Plate a record eight times. What effect has that wintering had on Southdale?

JB: We're very fortunate. Roger and Ian have been great friends for over 25 years so they trust each other without doubt, and heck, if Roger Attfield can't get a horse ready for the Plate, then no one can!

TDH: Southdale ran his first race at Keeneland. Where did you watch the race and were you at all disappointed that he had so much traffic trouble?
JB: We were watching at Ian's place. He actually learned so much from that race, so if that situation arises in a race ever again, he'll already have done it and it's not going to put him off. He's been shut off, he's been checked and he just kept coming at them every time. In a sense, that really helps him in his development.

TDH: Describe your thoughts going into his maiden-breaking win at Woodbine.

JB: The race at Keeneland was a full field...the race at woodbine that he won was a full field and the outside post does help. The one thing it did (the outside post) was allow us to keep him out of trouble. Our basic thought going into the race was, he's going to have to get into a bunch of trouble or there's going to have to be a real nice horse in the race to beat us.

TDH: Do you see him having any trouble racing two turns?
JB: He's bred to run two turns and to see what he did there (at 7 furlongs) and draw away was impressive. No one had a clock on him, but I'm willing to bet that the last quarter including the gallop out was quicker than anything in the race.

I thanked Skippy for his time and said my good byes to the grooms and horses and headed home. It was 10:45AM and I was exhausted. For those on the backstretch, there was still much work to be done to get ready for 1PM post time at Woodbine. I'll be back to visit Southdale on Wednesday morning and will diarize the work leading into his first breeze since breaking his maiden.

If you have any ideas or questions you would like to have answered, please feel free to leave a comment or email me directly. Though I can officially report that I hate the sound of my own voice, I promise to learn a little more about video editing for future posts. I'll leave you with a funny shot of Southdale!


I crouched and Southie just had to stretch out to see what I was up to.