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Edenwold wins 147th Queen's Plate 6/25/2006 8:44:54 PM TORONTO (CP) - Trainer Josie Carroll made Queen's Plate history Sunday afternoon. Edenwold overtook Sterwins on the final turn, then held off a stiff challenge from his rival to earn a three-quarter length victory at the $1-million Queen's Plate, the first jewel of Canadian thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. Carroll became the first-ever female trainer to earn the win in the race's illustrious 147-year history. However, the 48-year-old Toronto native downplayed the historical significance of Sunday's victory. "My owners have always respected hard work and merit," Carroll said. "To play the gender card, I think, is taking away from the other trainers in the race who work equally hard and are very talented." "But, it's great and I'll take it." Carroll said it wasn't until she was standing in the winner's circle with Edenwold and his connections that the impact of her accomplishment hit home. "I've won races before," she said. "But when that crowd was cheering that horse and you think, `Wow, we've been with that horse from the beginning . . . we've brought him along,' and he's just marching there and they were showing their appreciation for him." "It kind of really caught in my throat." Winning jockey Emile Ramsammy, who prior to the race dyed his hair pink to match the colour of his silks, felt obligated to get the win after Carroll boldly predicted victory at the race draw Thursday. "She left me no choice," Ramsammy said after earning his second Plate win. "I thought Mr. Sapara (owner Jim Sapara) would like it and if we didn't win, at least he would be happy." Both Carroll and Sapara said they'd wait to see how Edenwold recovers from Sunday's win before committing him to the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second Triple Crown event slated for July 16 at Fort Erie Racetrack. The win was the fifth in 11 career starts for Edenwold, with the $600,000 winner's share boosting his overall earnings to $992,900. However, Edenwold hadn't won in two previous starts this season and broke from the No. 1 post in the 13-horse field Sunday. But the son of Southern Halo was Canada's champion two-year-old in 2005, winning four of eight starts for earnings of $346,000, and became the first champion two-year-old to win the Queen's Plate since Sound Reason in 1977. "I like that he validated his two-year-old championship," Carroll said. "There's always a question of, `Do they carry that on to their three-year-old year, were they worthy of their two-year-old championship?' "Well, I think he answered those questions today." Edenwold, named after a community in Saskatchewan, finished the 1¼-mile race on a fast track in 2:05.30. He returned $34.40, $15.90 and $10.30. Sherwins was second, paying $6.60 and $5.40 while third-place finisher Malakoff, the 4-1 second choice , returned $2.40. The remainder of the field, in order of finish, included: Ascot Bill, Shillelagh Slew, Pipers Thunder, Atlas Shrugs, Cifercat, Hot Deputy, Wanna Runner, Thinking Out Loud, Bridgecut and Pyramid Park. Wanna Runner, trained by heralded American Bob Baffert, was the 3-2 favourite, and was fourth after a mile before fading to 10th spot. "It's the first time he's ever thrown a clunker like that," Baffert said. "Victor (jockey Victor Espinoza) said at the five-eighths pole he acted like a horse that might have bled. "We're going to scope him. I don't know if he just got stirred up or what." The victory was certainly an emotional one for owners Jim and Alice Sapara. Not only was it their first Queen's Plate, but it came five years after Jim Sapara's manufacturing plant in Kentucky was destroyed by fire, forcing Sapara to shift his energies away from horse racing and towards rebuilding his business, which employed 300 people. Sapara got his business up and going just over a month later, but at the cost of selling his horse farm, also in Kentucky, and dispersing most of his broodmares. "That was devastating," Jim Sapara said, his voice wavering a bit. "I lost all enthusiasm about racing when the farm and the horses had to go but Alice said, `Maybe you should try another one and another one,' "You know, this is addictive and it doesn't take much to get me to a horse sale and I never sit on my hands when I get there, that's the big problem." Sapara thought the quick opening fractions of Sunday's race - 22.73 seconds for quarter mile, 45.98 seconds for half mile - would be a huge problem for his horse, so much so that he was preparing to question his jockey about it afterwards. "I was starting to think when I looked at the fractions about all the things I was going to say to Emile after he lost the race," Sapara said. "But as it got closer I started to think of all the good things I was going to say to him. "What I like is we asked Emile to stay with this horse, for the good and bad, and he said, `I'm with you,' he never wavered from that and I respect him for that."