King's Plate hero Paramount Prince makes dirt debut in Prince of Wales

King’s Plate winner Paramount Prince takes his speed to the dirt in Tuesday’s $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown going 1 3/16 miles at Fort Erie.

Trained by Mark Casse, Paramount Prince is the 8-5 morning-line favorite from post 8 under Patrick Husbands. He made his first start around two turns a winning one on July 23 in the 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial Stakes. The son of Society’s Chairman rode a live rail in another front-running score in the 1 1/4-mile King’s Plate, scoring by 1 1/2 lengths over Woodbine Oaks winner Elysian Field while earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

Paramount Prince, who has made all six of his starts over Woodbine’s synthetic Tapeta surface, breezed a half-mile in 49.20 seconds over the dirt training track on Sept. 3 at Woodbine.

“He may be a better horse on the synthetic, but we had him all winter in Ocala, where we have dirt, and he trained like a good horse on our track,” Casse said.

Casse, who has won the Prince of Wales four times, also is sending out Stayhonor Goodside in the 12-horse field of Canadian-breds.

A son of Honor Code, Stayhonor Goodside was competitive in a variety of stakes without winning one before finishing a close second in a July 23 allowance.

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“I feel like he’s been an underachiever to this point,” Casse said. “His pedigree says that he shouldn’t mind the dirt. We’ve been training him on the training track for some time in preparation for the Prince of Wales, which has always been my target for him. I wouldn’t count him out. He’s going to run well.”

Trainer Mike DePaulo entered Stanley House and Cool Kiss, who are both adding blinkers. DePaulo was content with Stanley House’s closing third under Javier Castellano from post 1 in the 17-horse Plate field. Rafael Hernandez will ride him Tuesday.

“I’m putting a set of blinkers on to try to get him a little closer to the pace,” said DePaulo, a two-time winner of the Prince of Wales. “He’s worked good on the dirt. He’s bred to be a dirt horse.”

Cool Kiss had a wide trip when second in the Plate Trial and when seventh in the Plate. He wound up second in his lone dirt start, a seven-furlong allowance at Gulfstream Park in January.

Trainer Kevin Attard, who has won the Prince of Wales twice, is running the Plate fourth-place finisher Velocitor and Tiburon, who hasn’t started since finishing seventh in the Plate Trial. Both horses worked a half-mile at Fort Erie on Tuesday, with Velocitor going in 50 and Tiburon in 40 seconds.

“Velocitor had a very easy work,” Attard said. “He’s doing well. They both handled the ship well. I thought Velocitor was looking at the surroundings more than Tiburon. I think it will benefit him. Hopefully, somebody will take it to [Paramount Prince] early this time.”

Tiburon graduated second time out in June going 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta and was beaten eight lengths in the Plate Trial. The $285,000 yearling purchase is by Good Magic, the sire of Kentucky Derby winner Mage.

“Skipping the Plate, Tiburon is coming into the race a little fresher,” Attard noted. “He’s been working lights-out on the dirt, so I’m excited to see him run. I always thought he was a pretty nice horse. I thought he’d run a little bit better in the Plate Trial. We’re putting the blinkers back on him.”

Kaukokaipuu finished a well-beaten 15th after a wide journey from post 15 in the Plate, in his first start since a good second to favored Turf King in the Grade 3 Marine on July 1. He has worked a half-mile twice at Fort Erie, going in a bullet 46.20 last Tuesday.

“It was very uncharacteristic of him not to show any speed and to only run five-eighths,” trainer Ted Holder said regarding the colt’s dull Plate performance.

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Rounding out the field for the 88th running of the Prince of Wales are Armaline, Morstachy’s, Ottawa, Twin City, and the supplement Trinity Park.

◗ There are two $100,000 dirt sprint stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds on the 11-race card, the Lake Erie for colts and geldings and the Rondeau Bay for fillies. They are the third round of races for the Ontario Sired Heritage Series.

Post time is 1 p.m., and the Prince of Wales goes as the 10th at 5:30 p.m. It will be broadcast in Canada on TSN from 5-6 p.m. Eastern.

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