Haddassah scores game Prince of Wales victory over stablemate Harlan Estate
%20holds%20Harlan%20Estate%20at%20bay%20by%20a%20half-length%20in%20the%20Prince%20of%20Wales.9-14-2021.MB_.jpeg)
Haddassah made amends for his flat race in the Queen’s Plate with a gutsy score in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie on Tuesday.
Haddassah ($15.50) stalked pacesetter Ready At Dawn through quick fractions of 23.67, 47.30 and 1:11.53., before assuming command on the far turn in the 1 3/16-mile dirt route.
Harlan Estate, who like Haddassah, is trained by Kevin Attard, came wide from fourth to challenge for the lead in mid-stretch. Haddassah never yielded and dug in to win by a half-length, in a time of 1:56.15.
Tino Attard-trained Keep Grinding checked in fourth, and Kevin Attard-trained H C Holiday finished a troubled fourth to make up an all-Attard superfecta. Curlin’s Catch, the 3-1 favorite, was a non-threatening fifth in the eight-horse field of Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Winning jockey Gary Boulanger said Haddassah took to the dirt like a duck to water and rated kindly, unlike in the 1 1/4-mile Plate on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Woodbine, in which he finished eighth.
“He showed me when I came and worked him here that he took to the dirt well,” Boulanger said. “We thought a lot of him. I had a great trip in the Queen’s Plate, but I just didn’t have another gear. He seemed to really like this surface.
:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures.
“I was pretty confident in the middle of the turn. He threw his ears up and took a pretty good breather. When I called on him, he never gave up, never let him go by - a really determined horse.”
It was the second Prince of Wales victory for Kevin Attard, who won the 2007 running with Alezzandro.
“All the horses actually ran well,” Attard said. “When they go out there and give it their all, that’s all I can ask for.”
A son of European champion 2-year-old Air Force Blue, Haddassah earned $240,000 in his first stakes success for owners Al and Bill Ulwelling, who also bred the gelding.
* Kevin Attard also sent out Red River Rebel ($5.10) to win the $80,000 Lake Erie Stakes on the undercard. Kevin’s cousin, trainer Jamie Attard, notched his first stakes with Red Equinox ($7.80) in the second on the 11-race program, the $80,000 Rondeau Bay.