Quebec racehorse owner Daniel Plouffe clearly has the touch with Standardbreds. Over the past two decades, he's owned such elite performers as Blissfull Hall and Courtly Choice and won several of harness racing's premier events, including the Canadian Pacing Derby, Little Brown Jug (twice) and the Meadowlands Pace.
Daniel Plouffe and Ben Wallace with Blissfull Hall after winning the 1999 Little Brown Jug
So far, he's doing pretty nicely on the thoroughbred side as well. His first thoroughbred runner, Clayton, has three wins in four lifetime starts, captured the $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine in his last race and figures to be one of the favourites for the $1-million Queen's Plate for three-year-olds at Woodbine on Sept. 12.
Plouffe, who operates several grocery stores in Quebec's Eastern Townships, owns Clayton in partnership with thoroughbred bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, a native of Beaconsfield, Que., and longtime friend he met when both were regulars at now-defunct Blue Bonnets racetrack in Montreal.
Lanni moved to Kentucky after graduating with a commerce degree from Concordia University and has emerged as one of the racing's leading bloodstock agents, helping pinpoint such stars as Bayern, Dortmund and Gamine for clients that include trainer Bob Baffert.
"We kept in touch over the years," said Plouffe. "For a while, we bought young horses and resold them, but then everyone started doing that, the opportunities weren't as good and we stopped. Two years ago, over a meal at Saratoga, we agreed to race a thoroughbred together. He said that with my luck in harness racing, I was someone he wanted to partner with."
A few months later, Lanni called to tell him he'd found their horse: Clayton, a Canadian-bred son of Bodemeister, bought at a U.S. sale for $50,000 (U.S.). The colt made one start at two, breaking his maiden at first asking at Woodbine. This year, he has two wins and a second in three starts.
Plouffe still hasn't seen him race in the flesh. "I was in Florida last year when he won his first race, and then this year there was COVID," he said. But he will be making the trip to Woodbine for the Plate, Canada`s premier thoroughbred prize.
Plouffe said that when you're used to racing Standardbreds, as he has for decades, the thoroughbred game requires a bit of adjustment.
"Standardbreds can race three times a month. With thoroughbreds, it's more like once every four weeks, which is a long time if you like watching your horses race. But I'm enjoying it. And there hasn't been as much of a financial difference as I expected. The monthly costs aren't that different. Clayton has cost me less per month than some of my stakes-level Standardbreds. There are a lot of advance staking costs with Standardbreds that you don`t have on the thoroughbred side."
The post position draw for the 161st running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 10:00 a.m.
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)