ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A Canadian Triple Crown will be on the line in Saturday’s $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine for the first time since 2003, as Mighty Heart will look to become the 13th Canadian Triple Crown winner following victories in the Queen’s Plate on Sept. 12 and the Prince of Wales Stakes on Sept. 29 at Fort Erie. Officially formed in 1959, it didn’t take long for the Triple Crown to be won for the first time, as New Providence captured all three races for Canadian-breds that season for trainer Pete McCann and owner Windfields Farm, winning the Queen’s Plate on dirt and the Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders’ Stakes on the turf. McCann and Windfields won the Triple Crown again in 1963 with Canebora. The dominant surface of the series changed in 1988 when the Prince of Wales Stakes moved from turf to dirt. The following year, With Approval ended a 26-year Triple Crown drought, sweeping all three legs for trainer Roger Attfield and owner Kinghaven Farms. With Approval’s Triple Crown began a run of four Triple Crown winners in a five-year span. Attfield and Kinghaven Farms won the Triple Crown in 1990 with Izvestia, and James Day and Sam-Son Farm captured it in 1991 with the filly Dance Smartly. Attfield then captured his third career Triple Crown, the most of any trainer, with Peteski in 1993 for owner Earle Mack. Wando became the most recent Triple Crown winner in 2003 for trainer Mike Keogh and owner Gustav Schickedanz. :: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program. In 2014, Woodbine Entertainment Group and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame announced that five additional horses would be grandfathered as Triple Crown winners after sweeping all three races prior to the series kicking off officially in 1959. Those horses included the filly Queensway (1932), Archworth (1939), Uttermost (1945), Ace Marine (1955), and Canadian Champ (1956). Wando was the last horse to enter the Breeders’ Stakes with a Canadian Triple Crown on the line in 2003. He went on to defeat Shoal Water by 1 1/2 lengths under jockey Patrick Husbands. In 2018, Wonder Gadot captured the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, but trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber opted to point toward the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga instead of vying for the Triple Crown. Casse went on to win the Breeders’ Stakes that year with Neepawa, completing a personal Canadian Triple Crown with two different horses. Eight other horses have entered the Breeders’ Stakes with a Triple Crown on the line but couldn’t get the final victory – Ten to Ace (1942), Major Factor (1951), Almoner (1970), L’Enjoleur (1975), Norcliffe (1976), Golden Choice (1986), Archers Bay (1998), and Scatter the Gold (2000). There also have been another 10 horses since 1959 who have won two of the three legs in the series, a list that includes Tone Broke (2019), Pender Harbour (2011), and A Bit O’Gold (2004), who all won the Prince of Wales and the Breeders’. Mighty Heart, trained by Josie Carroll and owned by Larry Cordes, would be the first three-surface Canadian Triple Crown winner since Woodbine switched from dirt to a synthetic surface in 2006. Although three different surfaces present a unique challenge, Attfield believes the 17-year gap between Triple Crown attempts is more about the right horse coming along than the different surfaces. “Personally, I think it’s just been a question of there hasn’t been that horse to do it over the last few years,” he said. “There was a flux of us there back in 1989. Those were really good horses that were capable of going on and winning major races in the States. I think that’s had a lot to do with it.” Attfield’s Triple Crown winners all went on to become graded stakes winners, and all three placed in Grade 1 events. While making their respective runs through the Canadian Triple Crown, Attfield said the biggest challenge was keeping his horses in top form during the series. “Even though you may have very good horses, you always worry about coming to each race in good shape,” he said. “It’s always questionable when you have little coughs around that stop you sometimes and different little things like bruised feet that could rock the boat and stop you from being able to do it. That’s always a challenge there, too. It’s not an easy thing to do, for sure.” Despite comfortable wins in the Queen’s Plate (nine lengths) and Prince of Wales Stakes (four lengths) in 2003, the 1 1/2-mile distance had Keogh concerned heading into the Breeders’ Stakes with Wando. “You don’t know about the mile and a half,” he said. “I knew the turf wasn’t a problem because he was second in the Summer Stakes on it as a baby. The only worry was the mile and a half and whether he would get it or not.” Keogh added that light training between Triple Crown starts was another key to Wando’s success. “The main thing is you have to be careful you don’t overdo it with them, especially going into the last leg,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure you have a fresh and happy horse.” Carroll, has plenty of experience navigating the Canadian Triple Crown, as she has run three horses in all three legs of the series in recent years. In 2014, Ami’s Holiday finished second in the Queen’s Plate and third in the Prince of Wales before winning the Breeders’. Amis Gizmo also was second in the Queen’s Plate in 2016 before wining the Prince of Wales. He capped his series with a sixth-place finish in the Breeders’. Last season, Avie’s Flatter placed in all three Triple Crown races, running second in the Queen’s Plate and the Prince of Wales and third in the Breeders’. Carroll’s previous Queen’s Plate winners, Edenwold in 2006 and Inglorious in 2011, did not compete in the Breeders’. Edenwold finished fourth in the Prince of Wales Stakes following the Queen’s Plate and was pointed toward the Canadian Derby at Northlands Park, while Inglorious skipped the final two legs of the Triple Crown in favor of the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. Carroll said Mighty Heart, who made his first career start in February, is coming into the Breeders’ in good shape following his 7 1/2-length victory in the Queen’s Plate and 2 1/2-length score in the Prince of Wales. “It’s a Triple Crown race, and that’s why we’d come back this quickly,” she said. “It’s a short turnaround for these horses, but he did come out of the [Prince of Wales] well. Larry is very much about his horse, and if he didn’t bounce out of it well, we wouldn’t have gone.” Carroll, who also will start Queen’s Plate runner-up Belichick in the Breeders’, said she is looking forward to Saturday’s race and Mighty Heart’s run at history. “It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “What’s exciting is this horse has a shot to do it. We often go in these races, but this horse has really shown himself to be a serious contender.”