A month after Ernie Samuel's death, Scatter the Gold wins the Queen's Plate

A month to the day after Ernie Samuel died following a lengthy illness, his racing stable's Scatter the Gold rekindled memories of past glories with a scintillating charge through Woodbine racetrack's stretch to win the 141st Queen's Plate Stakes on June 25.

"I know that Ernie is right here with me, and he couldn't be more excited and thrilled than I am," Samuel's widow, Liza, said through the tears of a winner's circle celebration.

There could not have been a more fitting winner to continue the legacy of Samuel's Sam-Son Farms. A Mr. Prospector colt out of Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly, whom Samuel often referred to as his favorite, Scatter the Gold is Sam-Son Farms through and through.

"It's incredibly special for a lot of reasons," said his daughter, Tammy Samuel-Balaz. "The sad thing is that Dad was not here to share it, but we feel he was here with us. He will continue to be at least in spirit."

Scatter the Gold's time of 2:05.53 for 11/4 miles was ordinary—it was the slowest since Regal Intention won the first of Sam-Son's three Queen's Plates in 1988—and he became only the second maiden since 1953 to capture Canada's most famous race. The Queen's Plate was only his fifth career start.

I and I, who closed ground with Scatter the Gold from well off the pace in the field of 16 Canadian-bred three-year-olds, took second, 41/4 lengths behind the winner and four lengths ahead of For Our Sake. Scatter the Gold, sent off as the 3.65-to-1 second betting choice as part of an entry with the more accomplished Strike Smartly, collected $600,000 from the record $1-million Queen's Plate purse to bring his total earnings to $620,574.

Jockey Todd Kabel rode Scatter the Gold to the winner's circle with arms raised in victory. Three days before the race, Kabel made a brash move—ridiculed by some—in switching from Strike Smartly, who finished tenth.

"It was very emotional for me, too. There were tears coming out of my eyes," Kabel said. "Mr. Samuel meant a lot to me. He stuck with me and put me on some good horses. I was thinking about him all day. I'm still thinking about him."

The win could not have come at a better time for the family. An industrialist based in Oakville, Ontario, Samuel began the family's racing tradition in the 1970s with the mare No Class. She produced 1984 Canadian champion three-year-old filly Classy 'n Smart, dam of Dance Smartly.

Besides winning the 1991 Canadian Triple Crown and being crowned Canada's Horse of the Year, Dance Smartly captured the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) and was voted an Eclipse Award as 1991's champion three-year-old filly.

In the week preceding the Queen's Plate, Samuel-Balaz and trainer Mark Frostad were adamant that the family would carry on the racing stable. She said her father talked about the horses to his final days. "We talked about the Plate horses and how they were doing up until a week before he died," Samuel-Balaz said.

"The fact (Scatter the Gold) was out of Dance Smartly—there was so much pride in her being a part of our breeding program. Here we are in another generation. It's unbelievable, really."

For now, Scatter the Gold will be regarded as the best of a weak bunch; the field contained five maidens. But no one can dispute the ease with which he won. Kabel allowed Scatter the Gold to settle early as the bulky field sorted itself out. Wake at Noon, who had won three Plate preps at sprint distances, set the early fractions, as expected, completing the first mile in 1:38.08. But by that point Kabel, who won his only other Plate with Regal Discovery in 1995, was ready to pounce. With a quick four-wide burst around the final turn, Scatter the Gold took command at the top of the stretch.

Kabel then issued two left-handed taps of the whip and hand-rode Scatter the Gold to the wire.