Praise the Prince Takes A.P. Smithwick

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Amid spills, chills, and thrills Augustin Stables Praise the Prince prevailed in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Handicap (NSA-II) at Saratoga.

Praise the Prince was completed the 2 1/6 mile distance in 3:39.36. Aggro Crag was 4 1/4 lengths back in second, with Spring Salute another 1 1/4 lengths farther back in third.

Before the event was completed, two horses and their mounts went down. Joe Delozier, who was unseated from his mount Indispensable at the second fence, was taken to Saratoga Hospital for precautionary x-rays of his back and neck. Roger Horgan, who was later unseated from Quel Senor, escaped injury.

Indispensable and Quel Senor were not injured in the falls.

Praise the Prince, whom Thoroughbred Investments bred in New Zealand, has eight wins, including four added-money events, from 25 lifetime starts for earnings of $340,996. He last won the Meadow Brook Hurdle Stakes (NSA-I) June 7 at Belmont Park.

"This is a super-consistent horse. He's very workmanlike and very hard to fault. To do what he did today -- spotting weight in his first start against open horses -- is not an easy task," said trainer Sanna Neilson. "It's always a big step going from novice to open."

Praise the Prince will next compete in the $100,000 New York Turf Writers' Cup Aug. 30.

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