Notorious Gangster a Daunting Presence in King's Plate

Notorious Gangster enters the CA$1 million King's Plate Stakes at Woodbine Aug. 16 as one of the most accomplished entrants, having won two stakes and placed in two others over his seven-race career. His trainer, Josie Carroll, has the King's Plate qualifications to match. The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer is the co-winningest Plate trainer in this year's 166th running, having won the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown three times, a tally among 2025 competitors shared by United States and Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. She scored with Edenwold in 2006, Inglorious in 2011, and Mighty Heart in 2020. "Obviously, each one of them has meant a great deal," Carroll said in an Aug. 15 interview from her Woodbine barn. "It is our big race in Canada. Historically, it has great significance, so it never loses its luster and certainly hoping to do a repeat." WATCH: Carroll Eyes King’s Plate Glory With Notorious Gangster Her 19% win percentage from a 3-for-16 record is the best of any of the trainers with starters in this year's field. The race will have its 166th running Saturday. Notorious Gangster would appear to have a better-than-average chance in this year's 13-horse race, with the late-running Classic Empire colt pegged as the 9-2 second choice behind the filly, the 7-2 favorite No Time, winner of the Woodbine Oaks. Last year, Notorious Gangster captured the Coronation Futurity at 1 1/8 miles in the final start of his 2-year-old season. Remarkably, not since Norcliffe in 1976 has a Coronation winner returned to win the Plate at 3. This year, the colt was elevated to second by disqualification in the April 27 Woodstock Stakes going six furlongs, stretched out and won the seven-furlong Queenston Stakes June 8, and then was a troubled runner-up finisher in the July 20 Plate Trial Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. He ran into traffic with a little less than a half-mile remaining before kicking into gear late and rallying to finish 1 1/4 lengths behind victorious Sedburys Ghost, who is also back in the Plate. The trip "just wasn't the cleanest around, and when we finally got through, he gave me everything he had," jockey Fraser Aebly said. "And I think we'll be looking for a different result tomorrow." The young jockey rides in the 1 1/4-mile Plate for the second time after piloting Roar of the Crowd to finish 12th in last year's race. Aebly and Carroll had company Friday at Caroll's Woodbine stable, joined by owner/breeder Mark Dodson and his adolescent son, Leo. Leo was responsible for the naming of the colt, saying he and his dad were visiting a Star Wars exhibit at Disneyland when he commented to his father that the Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt was a notorious gangster. "And he was like, 'Oh, well, that's a good name for a horse,'" Leo recalled. So the dark bay or brown colt out of Dodson's Verrazano mare Sister Nova was named, and now the 3-year-old brings Mark Dodson to the King's Plate for the first time after 40 years of involvement in the sport. "This is where you want to be," Mark said. Leo is excited for Notorious Gangster's upcoming start in the Plate, a race considered by many Canadians to be their equivalent of the Kentucky Derby (G1). "I think we're going to do it," he said, smiling. (Editor's Note: BloodHorse's on-site coverage of the King's Plate and E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T) is funded in part by travel provided by Woodbine.)