Queen's Plate runner-up Hippolytus, 61-1 in Canada's opening jewel of the Triple Crown, heads a field of seven Ontario-bred colts and geldings in the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie July 17.
Five of the seven entrants in the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales are coming out of the Queen's Plate. The second leg of the Canadian 3-year-old series is the ninth race on the Ontario track's program with a probable post of 5:45 p.m. EDT.
Hippolytus, a son of Philanthropist trained by Mark Casse for Horse'n Around Racing Stable and Lederman, is listed at 2-1 on the morning line. The gelding led at the top of the stretch in the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate and beat 15 others on the Polytrack at Woodbine, but wound up 2 1/2 lengths behind the fast-closing filly Inglorious.
Trainer Josie Carroll announced earlier that she was skipping the Prince of Wales with Inglorious and will likely run her in Saratoga's Alabama Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 20.
“I had my eye on the favorite Check Your Soul as well as Bowman's Causeway in the Queen's Plate," Casse said. "When they came to him he just darted off and I thought to myself, oh my lord we’re going to win!”
Tyler Pizarro retains the mount on Hippolytus, who showed solid improvement with blinkers in the Queen's Plate after finishing a distant fourth in the Plate Trial Stakes. He drew post 3 in pursuit of his first stakes win.
“Tyler felt that 'Hippo' needed to wear blinkers, since he noticed that he was intimidated by other horses being around him in a race,” said Casse.
Charles Fipke's homebred Check Your Soul is the 7-2 third choice. He drew the outside post for trainer Roger Attfield and will be ridden by Patrick Husbands, who has been aboard the Perfect Soul colt in his past three starts.
Check Your Soul, who won both the Wando Stakes and the Plate Trial this spring when teamed with Husbands, tired to seventh as the 9-5 choice in the Queen's Plate after launching a bid at the quarter pole.
Crowd noise and a paddock delay may have caused Check Your Soul to be a little overheated during the race, some said afterward, but Attfield felt otherwise.
"He suffered from a chemical imbalance called thumps,” said the conditioner. “He also tied up a bit while cooling out after the race.” Thumps, Attfield said, are much like the human condition known as hiccups.
Pender Harbour, third in the Queen's Plate at 15-1 for trainer Michael DePaulo, is second choice in the Prince of Wales at 3-1.
Leading Woodbine jockey Luis Contreras, who rode Inglorious to victory, picks up the mount. He rode Pender Harbour, another son of Philanthropist, to a fourth-place finish in the Victoria Park Stakes at Woodbine June 12. Pender Harbour will break from post 2.
Bowman's Causeway closed well from a poor post to get fourth in the Queen's Plate following a runner-up finish in the Plate Trial. He is back with Eurico Rosa da Silva in the irons once more for trainer Chad Brown and owner Martin Schwartz.
Also in the field is Oh Canada, who vied for the lead for six furlongs in the Queen's Plate before fading to 13th. Frank Di Giulio Jr.'s homebred Proud Citizen gelding wore blinkers for the first time in the Queen's Plate but will race without them in the Prince of Wales. He drew the rail for trainer Robert Tiller.
New shooters in the Prince of Wales are Oban and Welloiledmachine, both out of the Mike Keogh barn. Oban, a son Pleasant Tap, was nosed in a maiden start at the Prince of Wales distance June 11 at Woodbine. Welloiledmachine, by Mobil , comes out of a Fort Erie allowance heat at 1 1/16 miles in which he finished second, beaten by a half-length.
$500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes (Race 9, 5:45 p.m.), 3-Year-Olds Foaled in Canada, 1 3/16 Miles
PP. Horse, Jockey, Trainer
1. Oh Canada (ON), K Carignan, R P Tiller
2. Pender Harbour (ON), L Contreras, M P De Paulo
3. Hippolytus (ON), T Pizarro, M E Casse
4. Welloiledmachine (ON), J McAleney, M Keogh
5. Oban (ON), E Ramsammy, M Keogh
6. Bowman's Causeway (ON), E R Da Silva, C C Brown
7. Check Your Soul (ON), P Husbands, R L Attfield
All carry 126 pounds.
Blinkers Off: Oh Canada