TORONTO -- For Son of Briartic jockey Paul Souter, there was an eerie -- but pleasant -- quality of deja vu in Sunday's victory in the 123rd running of the Queen's Plate.
Son of Briartic, an 8-1 shot, seized the lead early in Canada's richest and oldest stakes race and pulled away in the stretch to register a four-length victory over Runaway Groom and heavily-favored Le Danseur.
The victory was somewhat marred by the death of Transcendent in a four-horse pileup which developed behind Son of Briartic.
'I feel like I haven't woken up yet,' said Souter, who earned his first Plate triumph in five appearances.
'I'm a bad sleeper and I watched a couple of movies last night and then I started to have some strange dreams. I dreamed I won it 10 times in my dreams and each time I was way ahead of the field.'
Souter was surprised by the quick start of Son of Briartic who had lost to Le Danseur in two previous meetings as a two-year-old.
'We expected a couple of horses to go in front of him and that I'd have to do the chasing but he just took off. I pressed the button when he hit the -mile pole and he just went. It was just like the way it was in my dreams.'
The victory was especially satisfying considering that Son of Briartic had to be scratched at last Sunday's semifinal as a result of a popped splint. Trainer Jerry Lavigne and owner Dave Kapchinsky of Paddockhurst Stable feared they would not be able to get the chestnut colt to the Plate.
But they treated the injury with a nitrogen freeze and Son of Briartic displayed no ill effects in breezing to an easy victory in the 1 -mile Canadian classic.
Le Danseur, trained by Jacques Dumas and owned by Jean-Louis Levesque, never seemed to be able to overcome the biggest Plate field in 20 years and had to settle for third-place prize money of $25,942.
'He didn't try too hard early,' said jockey Jacinto Vasquez. 'He dropped so far back, he closed a lot of ground but he just couldn't get there. He lost a little ground on the backside and he just couldn't get close to the leaders when he started to run.'
Le Grande Argentier, who was coupled as an entry with Le Danseur, was bumped up to fourth with the disqualification of Icy Circle.
Exclusive Canadian, another top favorite at 8-1, finished fifth.
Son of Briartic paid $19.50, $8.60 and $5, while Runaway Groom paid $27.80 and $9.70 and Le Danseur yielded $2.70.
