Mighty Heart goes for second jewel of Canadian Triple Crown

Mighty Heart, the one-eyed winner of the Queen’s Plate, was made the 7-5 favorite in the second Canadian Triple Crown race on Tuesday at Fort Erie, the 85th running of $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes over 1 3/16 miles on dirt.

Mighty Heart was quite green in his first two starts during the winter at Fair Grounds, yet he managed to finish fourth going a mile on dirt in his debut. He turned the corner abruptly on July 11 at Woodbine following a layoff, when he romped in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special on the Tapeta.

Mighty Heart subsequently ran third in a nine-furlong allowance, which set him up nicely for the $1 million Plate on Sept. 12. Nobody wanted the lead in the 1 1/4-mile event, so Daisuke Fukumoto put him on the point, and they rode an inside-speed bias to a 7 1/2-length tally. His time of 2:01.98 was the fastest Plate in the synthetic era, and he earned a big 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Trainer Josie Carroll said she wasn’t clear on what triggered the turnaround for Mighty Heart, who was bred by owner Larry Cordes.

“I’m not quite sure if it was the synthetic, or if this horse just started to come around,” Carroll said. “When he ran at the Fair Grounds, he was pretty quirky. In his first races, he just about made the outside fence when the dirt and turf came back and hit him. It took him a while to really adapt because of his eye. We made a change and put a blinker over the blind side. I guess that area is a little sensitive when things hit it. When we did that and stuck him in behind horses to breeze again, he seemed to handle it much better.”

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Mighty Heart was full of run in a half-mile breeze in 47.40 seconds over a quick Tapeta surface on Thursday at Woodbine. In company with allowance winners Boardroom and She’s a Dream, he went the opening quarter in 23.40 and galloped out the five-eighths in 1:00.20 under Fukumoto.

Mighty Heart drew post 2 in a nine-horse field with Fukumoto aboard.

Clayton is the 5-2 second choice from post 9 under Rafael Hernandez.

Clayton ran three wide in a stalking position against the bias before tiring to finish a distant third in the Plate, which came after his workmanlike win in the nine-furlong Plate Trial. His trainer, Kevin Attard, won the 2007 Prince of Wales with Plate runner-up Alezzandro.

Trainer Mark Casse, who has won the Prince of Wales four times, entered longshots Bold Victory and Muskoka Giant.

Rounding out the field are Dotted Line, Enchant Me, Tecumseh’s War, Truebelieve, and the supplement Red Mercury.