Fire and Wine!

BY: Steve Buffery

Sitting at a table reserved for the connections of Fire And Wine, veteran trainer Zeljko Krcmar was asked for his thoughts heading into Saturday’s 167th running of the $1 million King’s Plate at Woodbine Racetrack.

“This may be my Swan Song,” said Krcmar.

“You mean you’re retiring?” he was asked.

“No,” the veteran horseman replied with a smile. “What am I going to do if I retire? Sit at home and watch TV and die? I’m 84. But I don’t plan to stop. I love the business and I’ve loved horses all my life.”

Krcmar said that he’s equally happy if one of his horses wins a stakes race or $15,000 claimer. But you know there’s some extra special excitement building at Krcmar’s barn with their talented three-year-old colt Fire And Wine entered in the King’s Plate. Krcmar arrived in Canada from Yugoslavia in 1968, originally intending to work as a chemist, but seven years later he found his way to Woodbine and earned his trainer’s license, saddling his first horse in 1975. Since then, he has won 173 races with lifetime earnings of $3,931,676 US. His top-earning horse all-time was No More Options, a winner of seven races in 30 starts, including the 2024 Lake Ontario Stakes and the 2023 Frost King Stakes, with $378,692 US in earnings. There’s a chance that Fire And Wine could someday pass that.

Owned by Paul Ryder, Fire And Wine announced his presence in a big way by winning the 2025 Coronation Futurity by a resounding five lengths. There was talk after that race that the son of Lexitonian-Double Latte might be a King’s Plate contender. However, you know what they say about the best laid plans… So far in 2026, the talented colt finished well back of the leaders in all three Stakes races, including crossing the line eighth in the Plate Trial Stakes on July 19.

Ryder said at the Plate draw last Tuesday morning that Fire And Wine experienced a couple of issues this season, but Krcmar insisted that it was nothing serious, adding that his horse had just been “growing and growing” and that might have hampered his development a bit.

“He’s going to be in top shape for the Plate,” said Krcmar, who will be gunning for his first Plate win. “I believe he is in the top shape of his life. He’s good. He’s sound. He’s healthy. I need a rider who will just let him go to the front and win. He likes to run. He’s brave on the front.”

Krcmar has replaced Fire And Wine’s regular jockey Slade Jones with Jalon Samuel for Saturday’s race. Samuel hails from Barbados where he won three consecutive Gold Cups at Garrison Savannah.

The resounding favorite to win Saturday’s King Plate is the Josie Carroll-trained filly Luster, a winner of the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks on July 19 by an incredible five 1/2 lengths. The morning line odds list Luster at 1-1. Luster stopped the clock in 1:50.99 in the Oaks. By comparison, the colts in the Plate Trial, contested over the same distance and surface earlier in the day, recorded a winning time of 1:52.17. Luster’s Beyer figures have increased with each start, peaking at 97 for the Oaks.

“She’s just a horse that wants to win,” said Carroll, who is hoping, with Luster, to win her fourth Plate on Saturday. “She just throws it on the line every time. She’s tired for three days after she runs, she gives it everything she’s had.”

The next favorite (5-1) is the Julia Carey-conditioned bay colt Brachetto who is gunning to become the first-ever Manitoba bred Plate winner. Owned by Dr. Ross A McKague and Brenda McKague, Brachetto stepped up as a Plate contender with a sharp win in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes on June 27. Rounding the top three in terms of the early favorites is Highwaytothemoon at 6-1, trained by Dale Desruisseaux. The son of Ransom the Moon-High Society Gal, has won back-to-back stakes, the Queenston and the Plate Trial.

Trainer Kevin Attard won the last two King’s Plates and three out of the last four (Mansetti, 2025; Caitlinhergrtness, 2024; Moira, 2022) and while he has two horses entered in this year’s running of Canada’s most important horse race, Baaeed Alynna and Very Special, both are 30-1 longshots, which doesn’t mean Attard is throwing in the towel.

“They’re definitely not the talk of the town, but I like both of my horses,” said Attard. “They don’t have some of the seasoning that maybe some of the other horses have, but they’re improving with every start and they’re coming into the race in good order.”

In three career starts, all as a three-year-old, Very Special has never finished worse than third. The bay heads into his first stakes engagement off a third in a maiden special contest run at 1 1/8miles on July 4. Sent off as the 6-5 favorite, Very Special hopped at the start and then was slammed by an outside rival soon after. Despite that, he showed a ton of determination to finish third.

“What stood out to me was how he shook it off and settled so well,” said Attard of Very Special’s performance. “With a young horse making just his third start, you might expect him to throw in the towel. Instead, he did the exact opposite. Of course, you want to get the win, but there may have been an even more important takeaway from that race.”

As for the Tagermeen Racing LLC-owned Baaeed Alynna, the son of Good Magic-Pacific Dancer, made just one start as a two-year-old last year, finishing third in the Display Stakes, but returned to break his maiden this season in a seven-furlong special weight on June 28.

“When he came to us, we liked him from the outset,” said Attard. “We felt that he had the ability to be competitive at the stakes level, so that’s why we put him in the Display. He’s had a few little issues here and there, but he’s coming into the Plate in great shape.”

Attard said he is okay with not having none of the favorites in this year’s Plate.

“Obviously you don’t get the media attention that we had in the last couple of years, but from a trainer’s perspective, you’re always on pins and needles hoping things go smoothly,” he said. “You like at Very Special who scratched at the gate last time. There are so many things that can happen that are out of your control. So that’s what keeps you sharp and on your toes.”

A field of 12 will contest this year’s Plate, North America’s oldest continually run race which is also the first jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, last won by the Gus Schickedanz owned and bred Wando in 2003. The $500,000 Prince of Wales, run at 1 3/16 miles on the dirt at Fort Erie on Sept. 7, and the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes, at 1 ½ miles over the E.P. Taylor turf course at Woodbine on Sept. 27, are the next two.