Woodbine: Midnight Aria, 'worn out,' to miss Prince of Wales Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Midnight Aria, the front-running winner of the July 7 Queen's Plate at Woodbine, will not be continuing his Canadian Triple Crown bid in Fort Erie's Prince of Wales Stakes.

"He's not going to run," said Nick Gonzalez, who trains Midnight Aria for owners Carlo and Lou Tucci. “He's kind of worn out. The Queen's Plate took a lot out of him physically. It's just the strain and the stress, being training and racing for like a year. It was just going to be too much for him, and he wouldn't be 100 percent going in, so we're going to err on the side of caution."

Claimed for $35,000 at Gulfstream Park this winter, Midnight Aria broke his maiden there in his first start for his new barn over 1 1/8 miles of sloppy going.

The gelding, bred in Ontario by Yvonne Schwabe, then finished third in each his next four starts, two on turf at Gulfstream and in both the 1 1/16-mile Wando and the 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial at Woodbine.

Sent to the front right at the start of the Queen's Plate under regular rider Jesse Campbell, Midnight Aria led at every pole and prevailed by a half-length. His winning share of the $1 million purse was $600,000.

The $500,000 Prince of Wales, over 1 3/16 miles on Fort Erie's dirt surface, will be run July 30. The leading contender now becomes Dynamic Sky, who finished third in the Queen's Plate for trainer Mark Casse.