In 1859, the then-President of the Toronto Turf Club, Sir
Casimir Gzowski, petitioned
Queen Victoria to grant a plate for a new race in the
Canada West (today Ontario). With the monarch's approval, the first Queen's Plate was run on 27 June 1860, at the
Carleton racetrack in
Toronto, with the prize of "a plate to the value of 50
guineas". Despite the name, the winning owner is presented with a gold cup, rather than a plate. The race was originally restricted to three-year-olds bred in Canada that had never won a stakes race and was run in heats, with a horse having to win two heats to be declared the winner. The race conditions have since evolved; heat racing was discontinued in 1879 and, around the same time, the race was opened to stakes winners (some early records are incomplete). For many years, the race was open to older horses and, in the early 1900s, was even open to two-year-olds. The King's Plate is currently restricted to three-year-olds foaled in Canada. The owner must pay a nomination fee ($500 in 2018) in February, a second subscription fee ($1,500 in 2018) in May, and a final entry fee ($10,000) prior to the race. ] The first four renewals were run at Carleton racetrack. After that, the Queen's Plate became a "movable feast", with politicians from all over modern-day Ontario vying to host the race in their constituency. Fifteen different race tracks hosted the race over the next two decades, with distances varying from one to two miles. In 1883, the race moved to
Old Woodbine, located in eastern Toronto along Lake Ontario. The race continued to be held at Old Woodbine until that track was replaced by "New"
Woodbine in northern Toronto in 1956. The race has been run at Woodbine ever since. In 2006, Woodbine changed the track surface for the main track from natural dirt to a synthetic surface known as Polytrack. In 2016, the surface was changed to Tapeta. In 2022, it reverted to the King's Plate upon the accession of
Charles III. Horses owned by
Windfields Farm have won the Plate eleven times, but the most successful was the stable owned by
Joseph E. Seagram, a prominent
distiller from
Waterloo, Ontario. Seagram's stable won the Plate on twenty occasions between 1891 and 1935 including eight times in a row between 1891 and 1898, and ten times in eleven years from 1891 to 1901. At the 1925 King's Plate,
W. A. Hewitt and his son
Foster Hewitt called the first horse race broadcast on radio. In 1964,
Northern Dancer, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the
Kentucky Derby, also won the Queen's Plate in his final race. In 2006,
Josie Carroll became the first woman
trainer to win the Queen's Plate. The following year,
Emma-Jayne Wilson became the first female
jockey to win the race. The 2004-2013 Plate winners had little success in their subsequent racing careers. This compares unfavourably to the 1990s when a number of Plate winners had considerable success thereafter, including
With Approval,
Izvestia,
Dance Smartly and
Awesome Again. The more recent Queen's Plate winners have also been successful, including
Lexie Lou (who became a multiple graded stakes winner in Canada and the US after winning the Plate in 2014) and
Shaman Ghost (a Grade I winner in America after winning the Plate in 2015). Nick Eaves, former President and CEO of
Woodbine Entertainment Group, announced during the 2012 Queen's Plate post position draw that Woodbine Racetrack might be forced to close in April 2013 due to the cancellation of Slots at Racetrack program partnerships between Ontario's racetracks and the
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Eaves said that if Woodbine is not open, "there won't be a Queen's Plate." A new funding agreement was put in place in March 2013, which ensured the continuation of horse racing at Woodbine. 39 fillies have won the Plate, beginning with Brunette in 1864. The 2017 running was won by the filly Holy Helena, while the 2018 running was won by Wonder Gadot. Two chestnut fillies both by the name of Wild Rose have won the Queen's Plate, in 1867 and 1886. They were the daughter and great-great-granddaughter respectively of Yellow Rose, who also produced the first Queen's Plate winner Don Juan. The race has been held at a variety of distances: • 1860–1867: heats • 1868–1870: • 1871: miles (2.82 km) • 1872–1886: miles (2.4 km) • 1887–1923: miles (2.01 km) • 1924–1956: miles (1.811 km) • 1957-: miles (2.01 km)
Triple Crown dispute with Fort Erie Race Track Since 2021, a year after the Queen's Plate was moved to September from its usual June or July spot due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Woodbine has run the race in August. As a result,
Fort Erie Race Track, which runs the second of
Canada's Triple Crown races, the
Prince of Wales Stakes, moved their race to after the King's Plate. In April 2023, a few months after Woodbine announced that the 2023 King's Plate would again be run in August, Fort Erie filed a grievance with the Canadian Trade Commission over what it called business practices that were "unfair and clearly predatory." A member of the
Fort Erie Council suggested that the COVID pandemic was over and that the King's Plate should move back to June, adding that continuing to run the race in August would not be in Fort Erie Race Track's best economic interests, as it would result in the Prince of Wales Stakes being run after
Labour Day, when the key summer tourism season is over. Woodbine responded that Fort Erie's allegations are "baseless and without merit" and that they would defend themselves if requested by the Trade Commission. ==Royal patronage==