DANCING A 'JIGGS'

(Above) JIGGS COZ, the Plate Trial winner who has a lifetime best Beyer Figure of 95, poses with owner and breeder Mel Lawson. (Above right) Trainer IAN BLACK eyes his first Plate starter, MIKE FOX who will be ridden by Emma-Jayne Wilson (far right). Jen photos.

**(Welcome to the 350th post on THOROUGHBLOG...thank you to the readers who commented under To All The Dads who complimented the site)**

PLATE CONTENDERS PARADE

A small group of local media and horsepeople gathered at the Woodbine walking ring yesterday on a hot, sunny afternoon to take a peek at some of the Queen’s Plate contenders for this year. Five of the six locals paraded as the other 3 entrants are not on the grounds yet.

Each one looked better than the next too. ALEZZANDRO is a giant colt who has been nervous on occasion but was well behaved yesterday. The High Yield colt is one of 2 for Knob Hill Stables and trained Kevin Attard. Their other entrant, LEONNATUS ANTEAS, who caused such a ripple this week when he had some heat exhaustion after his 1 mile workout in 1:37 4/5, did not parade.

MIKE FOX, who tends to get very washy and sweaty, was perfect in his presentation. A poignant moment was when D. Morgan Firestone was helped from his wheelchair to pose with his homebred colt.

JIGGS COZ, who may be heavily favoured, is a sizy grey by Cozzene and he was greeted in the walking ring by his 84-year-old owner and breeder Mel Lawson.

INCLUDE US, a light bodied, narrow colt by Include, pranced into the ring, showing off his sleek dark bay coat and his jagged, brilliant white blaze.

MARCHFIELD is surprisingly little in size compared to some of the others. He pulled hi handlers into the ring and posed with trainer Mark Casse.

THE FIELD (sire, last 3 Beyer Figures, owner, trainer, jock)

ALEZZANDRO (High Yield) 78, 77, Knob Hill, estate of Steve Stavro, Kevin Attard, Todd Kabel

COBRADOR (El Prado) 77, 80T, 76T, Graph Racing, Richie Scherer, Emile Ramsammy

DAAHER (Awesome Again) 90, 48, Shadwell, Kiaran McLaughlin, Alan Garcia

INCLUDE US (Include) 77, 71, 80, Mickey and Phyllis Canino, Bill Werber, Roger Attfield, Roger Attfield, Rob Landry

JIGGS COZ (Cozzene) 88,95,78 Mel Lawson, Sid Attard, David Clark

LEONNATUS ANTEAS (Stormy Atlantic) 89, 75, 80 Knob Hill, estate of Steve Stavro, Kevin Attard, Jono Jones

MARCHFIELD (A.P. Indy) 83, 92, 46 Melnyk Racing Stable, Mark Casse, Patrick Husbands

MIKE FOX (Giant’s Causeway) 84, 80, 59, Firestone Racing, Ian Black, Emma Jayne Wilson

TWILIGHT METEOR (Smart Strike) 91, 79, 94 Peachtree Racing, Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez

Highest Beyer Figure of any horse from any race: TWILIGHT METEOR, 97 on Polytrack last year at Keeneland

Winners at 1 1/8 miles: LEONNATRUS ANTEAS, JIGGS COZ

SUPPLEMENTS: DAAHER, $25,000 (Can).

THOROUGHBLOG POLL - make your Plate pick on the sidebar at right..

Here are some stories on the Plate this morning..

Quick guide to the preps and contenders..http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/226798

Marchfield..http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070619.HORSE19/TPStory/Sports

Mel Lawson

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/226802

http://torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2007/06/19/4272284-sun.html

JOCKEY EJECTED FROM PHILLY PARK

Kicked 2yo colt in stomach

From the Blood Horse:

Veteran jockey Victor Molina was ejected from the grounds of Philadelphia Park Monday after the track received numerous complaints concerning his actions prior to the start of the third race.

Molina, who was scheduled to ride the Clifford Sise-trained Yes Yes Ohyes, a 2-year-old colt, became pinned briefly in the starting gate when the colt reared and became stuck. After the colt was backed out of the gate and ordered scratched by the track veterinarian, Molina went to get his tack off and proceeded to kick the colt in the stomach. The kick was broadcast to a national audience by TVG, which telecasts Philadelphia Park racing on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The amount of phone calls and e-mails from outraged fans to the track prompted director of racing Sal Sinatra to call the stewards with the intention of having Molina removed from the rest of his mounts Monday and all of his mounts Tuesday, followed afterward by a formal hearing.

“Victor (Molina) acted very humbly and knew he had screwed up,” said Sinatra, “but decided to abide by (Jockeys') Guild rules, which forced us to have the head of security serve him with a formal notice and he was escorted off the grounds. He has been ejected indefinitely.”

Sinatra said a hearing with stewards was set for 11 a.m. Tuesday, and he intended to get statements from Yes Yes Ohyes’ owner, Hidden Meadows Farm, and the trainer.

“Victor is the last person in the room who I’d expect this from,” said Sinatra. “He did use very, very poor judgment. It’s unfortunate, because he’s one of the classier guys in our jockey colony.”

ROYAL ASCOT THIS WEEK

http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/radio.asp

Listen to the races!

Many of the top horses and well known celebrities in racing are overseas at the ROYAL ASCOT MEETING at Ascot racehorse. Here is a list of the races and the entrants for the week:

http://www.bhb-weatherbys.racingadmin.co.uk/ascot/runners.html