The West Toronto Junction: It Is Where Canada's First Queen's Plate Race Was Held

Collage: A 2 Minute Horse Race & 150 Years of The Junction History
2009 @ artjunction.blogspot.com

The 150th Running of the Queen's Plate at Woodbine Racetrack

Event: 150th Running
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009
Woodbine Post Time: 12:35 pm
Queen's Plate Post Time: 5:36 pm (ninth race)
Distance: One mile and two furlongs (1 1/4 mile)
First Race Winner: Don Juan (1860)
Race Record: Izvestia (1990), 2 min :01 4/5 sec
Purse: $1,000,000Live on CBC-TV | CBCSports.ca
Time: 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Believe it or not, but the first four Queen's Plate races were run in the Junction.

A little bit of history:

1857 to 1876 - Carleton Race Course - On William Conroy Keele’s farm in an area known as the West Toronto Junction. This tract of land adjacent to Lambton Mills, Brockton, Seaton and the village of Carleton. It was south of Dundas Street and west of a road later named Keele St. To pinpoint it further the track’s northern and southern boundaries are Annette and Glenlake, streets that were built after the track had been subdivided into building lots in 1857 it became the headquarters of the Toronto Turf Club and hosted the first running of the Queen’s Plate on
June 27, 1860. The first four Plate races were run here.

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Newsletter
June 2007, Volume 1, Issue 1

Initiated in 1859 by the then president of the Toronto Turf Club, Sir Casimir Gzowski, a distinguished Polish engineer and ancestor of the popular Canadian broadcaster, Peter Gzowski, the Queen's Plate was inaugurated on June 27, 1860, at the Carleton racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The prize of 50 guineas was originally awarded by Queen Victoria. Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, is patron of the event, and various other members of the Canadian Royal Family have been in attendance through the years.

wikipedia.org: Queen's Plate

Keele had the Carlton Park Race Course laid out on his property in 1857. This was the site of Canada’s first Queen’s Plate race June 27, 1860, now the oldest consecutive thoroughbred horse race in North America. The first Queen’s Plate was won by Don Juan, a 5 year old bay gelding, owned by James and John White, ridden by Charles Littlefield.

cunneyworth.com: West Toronto Junction

The Junction, as it is known today and where this week's Ugly Duckling roosts, has a long and interesting history. Much of the area is built on the site of the old Carleton Race Course where the first Queen’s Plate was run.

nationalpost.com: Ugly Duckling: Junction history
Posted: May 30, 2009, by Shari Kulha

Now it's time to learn the ABC's of the QP and place a bet for the 1st Jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown. The other gems in the Crown are the Prince of Wales Stakes (Sunday, July 12th at Fort Erie Racetrack) followed by the Breeders’ Stakes (Sunday, August 2nd at Woodbine Racetrack).

heritagetoronto.org: The Queen’s Plate Turns 150 
Horse race’s humble beginnings began in the Junction 
From “The Plate: 150 Years of Royal Tradition from Don Juan to the 2009 Winner” by Louis E. Cauz and Beverley Smith
Posted on January 7, 2013 by Kaitlin 
"A one hundred and fifty year-old tradition began in 1860, when the first Queen’s Plate took place on what was then a quiet estate near the Toronto suburb of Carlton (sometimes spelled “Carleton”).">>>
By David Wencer, originally published June 15, 2010