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Can Sweet Grass Creek be like dad and win the Queen's Plate?

Toronto On, June 24 2015.Woodbine Racetrack.Queen's Plate contender Sweet Grass Creek under Jockey Jesse Campbell breezes in preperation for the $1,000,000 dollar Queen's Plate Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday July 5, 2015.Owned by Gustav Schickedanz and trained by Mike Keogh. (Michael Burns Photo) (Michael Burns Photos)

By Chris Lomon

It has all the makings of a Canadian thoroughbred racing fairytale: a handsome-looking horse seeking the same Queen’s Plate glory his late father achieved some 12 years ago.

When trainer Mike Keogh walks by Sweet Grass Creek’s stall in his barn every day on the Woodbine backstretch, he can’t help but notice, at least aesthetically speaking, the similarity between the three-year-old colt and his sire, Wando, the country’s last Triple Crown champion.

“He’s not as big as his father, but there are moments when you look at him, and you can see ways in which they really do look quite alike,” said Keogh of Sweet Grass Creek. “But, Wando had a very laid-back demeanor, while he’s more aggressive.”

It was 2003 when Wando, owned by longtime horseman Gus Schickedanz, was front-page news, literally, reaching sporting star status in his run to an eventual sweep of the Plate, Prince of Wales, and Breeders’ Stakes.

The multiple stakes winner died of a heart attack January 22,2014, at Schomberg Farm near Nobleton, Ontario. The son of Langfuhr was 14.

Wando was a Grade 2 winner as a juvenile, and was sent off as the favourite in the 2003 edition of the Queen’s Plate, a race he dominated by nine lengths. He capped off his remarkable year by taking the Breeders’, making him the seventh horse to win the Triple Crown.

At campaign’s end, Wando was honoured with a Sovereign Award as Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old colt. A stakes winner at age four, he was retired after a short five-year-old season with 11 wins from 23 starts for earnings of $2,563,038.

“He was a great horse, wonderful to be around, a true gentleman,” praised Keogh.

Sweet Grass Creek has had a far more modest start to his career.

His first three races yielded a fourth, ninth, and fifth, respectively, before a winning performance over the Woodbine Polytrack on May 18, at 7-1.

The Ontario-bred comes into the Gallop for the Guineas off a second-place finish on June 6. Sweet Grass Creek will face 13 rivals when he takes his place in the starting gate this Sunday at Woodbine.

“He's acting like he has (learned),” said jockey Jesse Campbell, who won the 2013 Plate with Midnight Aria. “He used to be a bit rank, but now he's very relaxed out there. There's no way a horse can go out there two weeks in a row like that and not have some talent. He's just doing it very easy. You have to have talent to do that. We're just hoping he grows up on the right day."

The man who guided his father through a remarkable three-race run is hoping for the same.

“We’ve got a shot,” said Keogh, of the Schickedanz silk bearer. “His works have been strong and he’s been improving steadily. Hopefully, he comes up with his top effort in the big one.”