Mighty Heart Looks Mighty Tough in Prince of Wales

Before the American Triple Crown continues Oct. 3 with the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course, first it is Canada's turn with a major 1 3/16-mile race. On Sept. 29, Fort Erie stages the CA$400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown for 3-year-olds bred in the country. 

Tuesday's dirt race is headed by the Queen's Plate winner, the one-eyed Mighty Heart, who romped by 7 1/2 lengths in that race on a synthetic track Sept. 12 at Woodbine. 

Also entered are four other Queen's Plate starters, led by third-place Clayton and fourth-place Tecumseh's War. The runner-up from the Queen's Plate, Belichick, did not return.

Josie Carroll, who trains Mighty Heart for owner/breeder Lawrence Cordes, wasn't immediately sure if her 3-year-old would return, either. She chose to monitor him before committing to the second leg.

"I had a little hesitation about coming back with him in 17 days after such a big effort, but the horse never missed a beat, never missed an oat out of his tub," she said. "He worked brilliantly the other day. (The rider) could hardly hold him galloping out. So he deserved a shot to take a run at it."

All nine 3-year-olds in the Prince of Wales are winless on dirt, and only longshot Red Mercury, a maiden, has any experience on Fort Erie's dirt track. He finished second in a maiden race there Aug. 3.

The bulk of the competitors have raced primarily on Woodbine's synthetic surface.

Mighty Heart raced once on dirt this winter, finishing fourth in an off-the-turf race going a mile at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots Feb. 21 in his career debut.

"This little horse is pretty versatile," she said. "Once he got his feet under him on the dirt at Fair Grounds, he ran pretty well there."

Daisuke Fukumoto rides the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the Prince of Wales.

The final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown is the Breeders' Stakes, a 1 1/2-mile turf test at Woodbine Oct. 24.

"I think it's a really, really tough thing to do," Carroll said of winning the Canadian Triple Crown, last accomplished by the Michael Keogh-trained Wando in 2003. "I've been fortunate to win all the races, but never with the same horse."

Carroll has won three Queen's Plates with Edenwold (2006), Inglorious (2011), and Mighty Heart, the Prince of Wales with Amis Gizmo (2016), and the Breeders' Stakes with Ami's Holiday (2014).

The Mark Casse-trained Wonder Gadot in 2018 is the last horse to win the Prince of Wales after the Queen's Plate. She later skipped the Breeders' Stakes to compete in the U.S.

Casse is represented in the Prince of Wales by John Oxley's maiden Bold Victory and Conrad Farms' Muskoka Giant, fourth in an allowance race at Woodbine Sept. 7.

Donato Lanni and Daniel Plouffe's Clayton has a dirt pedigree, being by Bodemeister  out of the unraced Smart Strike mare Smarthalf. The Kevin Attard trainee captured the Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine earlier this summer before finishing 9 3/4 lengths behind Mighty Heart in the Queen's Plate.

Entries: Prince of Wales S.

Fort Erie, Tuesday, September 29, 2020, Race 8

• STK
• 1 3/16m
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 3 yo
• 5:37 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Truebelieve (ON)	Keveh Nicholls	126	Cole Bennett	30/1
2	2Mighty Heart (ON)	Daisuke Fukumoto	126	Josie Carroll	7/5
3	3Dotted Line (ON)	Justin Stein	126	Sid C. Attard	8/1
4	4Red Mercury (ON)	Simon P. Husbands	126	Paul D. Lepiane	30/1
5	5Enchant Me (ON)	Luis Contreras	126	Santino C. DiPaola	20/1
6	6Bold Victory (ON)	Patrick Husbands	126	Mark E. Casse	12/1
7	7Tecumseh's War (ON)	Emma-Jayne Wilson	126	Catherine Day Phillips	4/1
8	8Muskoka Giant (ON)	Kazushi Kimura	126	Mark E. Casse	12/1
9	9Clayton (ON)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	126	Kevin Attard	5/2