Duke of Love wears down Ironstone to win Prince of Wales Stakes
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Duke of Love didn’t have the best of trips in the Plate Trial or the Queen’s Plate, but he put it all together in a determined victory in Tuesday’s 87th running of the $400,800 Prince of Wales Stakes, the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Fort Erie.
Favored Ironstone went straight to the front under Kazushi Kimura in the 1 3/16-mile dirt route. Duke of Love broke fast from the rail before Justin Stein angled him into the two path heading into the first turn, and they proceeded to press Ironstone all the way through quick fractions.
Duke of Love joined Ironstone up front entering the stretch and then wore him down in the final furlong to prevail by three-quarters of a length in a final time of 1:58.07 over the muddy track.
Ice Road finished a distant third and was followed by Fast Feet, Collaborative, and Hunt Master. Sir for Sure lost jockey Declan Carroll late on the first turn before galloping around at the back of the pack.
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It was the first Prince of Wales score for Stein, and the third for trainer Josie Carroll.
“Duke broke really well,” Stein said. “His stride was comfy right away. I wasn’t worried about the dirt at all, the way he was traveling over it. We had a nice clean trip on the outside. He got to relax. A track like this, there’s even more kickback when it’s heavy and wet and sloppy. It makes it a lot easier for horse if they’re not thinking about running into the slop. We had a dream trip.”
Carroll said she didn’t expect to see Duke of Love break as sharply as he did.
“I had said to Justin that [Ironstone] was probably going to go, and we’ll be sitting in the path off of him,’” Carroll said. “But he showed some speed and was right in there and a little uncomfortable. We had talked about getting him off the fence, and he did a beautiful job of getting him out and around that horse and right where we wanted to be. He got a great ride.”
A son of Cupid, Duke of Love returned $7.10 as the second choice and earned $240,000 in his first stakes win for MyRacehorse.
* Pleasure’s Gold ($14.80) came wide from fifth to land the $100,800 Rondeau Bay Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies by two lengths over favored Souper Flashy. Over a fast/sealed track, the final time for the six furlongs was 1:11.23.
Rafael Hernandez rode Pleasure’s Gold for owners Gordon and Elizabeth Lickrish and trainer Tino Attard.
* Bossy Holiday ($17) dueled up front with Uncle Joe all the way in the $100,000 Lake Erie Stakes and prevailed by a head in the six-furlong sprint. Favored Silent Runner was a wide third in the six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired 3-year-old males, which was run in a time 1:10.23 on a fast track.
Luis Contreras got a leg up from trainer Josie Carroll on Bossy Holiday, who is owned by Ivan Dalos.