Woodbine’s top jockey Justin Stein doesn’t lose sleep over Mighty Heart’s decision to jump

Like that old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups ad where the guy falls off a horse and his chocolate bar lands in another guy’s peanut butter pot

That’s a bit like what happened with Mighty Heart – the amazing one-eyed horse – and his 22-year-old jockey Daisuke Fukumoto

Before riding Mighty Heart for this year’s Queen’s Plate on September 12, the three-year-old colt was ridden at Woodbine Racetrack by the best jockey in the competition, Justin Stein Stein got on board for the first race of Mighty Heart in Canada on July 11, a first weight special, and Dramedy’s son coached by Josie Carroll took the win Stein was also in the saddle for Mighty Heart’s second race at Woodbine on August 1, where they teamed up to finish third

But when the Queen’s Plate rode it was Fukumoto in the saddle, not Stein Now Fukumoto and Mighty Heart are about to make history If they can win the Breeders’ Stakes at the oval Etobicoke Saturday afternoon, Mighty Heart will become the first horse since the 2003 Wando trained by Mike Keogh to win the OLG Triple Canadian Crown Mighty Heart has won the first two gems – the Queen’s Plate and the Prince of Wales

It turns out that Stein – who won the 2012 Queen’s Plate with Strait of Dover – had the option of riding Mighty Heart in this year’s Plate, but chose to ride the Dotted Line gelding trained by Sid Attard. Dotted Line finished seventh from the plate and third from the Prince of Wales on September 29 at Fort Erie

He is not entered in the Breeders and Stein will be aboard the Muskoka Giant colt trained by Mark Casse in the big race on Saturday

At first glance, one would think that Stein, along with his agent Neal Wilson, would, at the very least, be remorseful and possibly angry, for deciding to mount Dotted Line in the Plate instead. of Mighty Heart, thus losing Mighty Heart against Fukumoto But it is not

« Justin was happy that (Mighty Heart) won the Queen’s Plate and he said he was happy to be able to ride it when he did, » Wilson said « Justin was very cordial (after the plate) and legitimately happy for (Fukumoto) And he was probably one of the first guys to shake his hand

« Now the Justin Stein of seven, eight years ago would probably have torn the place apart, » Wilson added with a laugh

Wilson said the decision to switch from Mighty Heart to Dotted Line before the Queen’s Plate was not a last-minute move Stein rode the Dotted Line at the age of two last year and Howard Walton’s gelding won two stakes races, the Frost King and the Kingarvie Stakes

“He was a really promising horse,” Wilson said of Dotted Line “And before (Stein) rode Mighty Heart, I signed up with Sid to have (Stein) ride (Dotted Line) in the Queen’s Plate After Justin rode Mighty Heart, Josie immediately said: ‘We would love to take a picture at the Plate’ and I said from the start, ‘I already signed up (Stein) on the horse. from Sid If something happens where (Dotted Line) couldn’t run, then I would definitely be able to ride it « 

“In this game your word is worth a lot,” Wilson added “Guys have a really hard time jumping and riding. I’ve been doing this job for over 20 years, so I know the relationships you make with trainers are important And Josie got it 100% Coming into the Queen’s Plate I thought the dotted line was very lucky It just didn’t come back to where it was at two years old and everyone just went a little faster « 

With Stein determined to ride Dotted Line in the Plate, Carroll nodded to Fukumoto Originally from Kagoshima Prefecture on the Japanese island of Kyushu, Fukumoto came to Canada at the age of 17 in 2015 and largely rode in the shadow of his most famous compatriot Kazushi Kimura, the main apprentice in North America last year

Carroll knew she was taking the risk of putting the relatively inexperienced Fukumoto on Mighty Heart in the Queen’s Plate and it goes without saying that she has no regrets

“I guess he’s a bit like that horse: he’s a better young man,” said Carroll “He listens to instructions, which I think is really important But when he has to call an audible , despite his inexperience, he seems to make the right calls « 

« Oh yeah (Things) have changed a lot, » said the jock “When I win the Queen’s Plate, lots of people in Japan and the US text me, lots of media too It was a big win for me I won two (triple crown jewels), so I’m already happy If I win one more, I’m just lucky « 

2 – Enchant Me – Steven Bahen – Santino Di Paola – York Tech Racing Stable – 50-1

3 – Clayton – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard – Donato Lanni and Daniel Plouffe – 6-1

4 – Olliemyboy – Patrick Husbands – Sid Attard – JMJ Racing Stables LLC – 12-1

7 – Deviant – Jerome Lermyte – Mark Casse – Red Lane Thoroughbreds LLC – 30-1

9 – Belichick – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll – NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods – 7-2

11 – Told it all – Kazushi Kimura – Norm McKnight – Rainbow Stables – 12-1 *

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Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, Horse Racing, Breeders’ Stakes, Josie Carroll, Woodbine Racetrack, Queen’s Plate