Milwaukee Appeal taking on males again

Milwaukee Appeal taking on males again

By Bill Tallon

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Milwaukee Appeal, a close third when she faced males for the first time here in the June 21 Queen's Plate, will be seeking to avenge that defeat in Sunday's Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.

The field for the $500,000 Prince of Wales, the 1 3/16 mile dirt race that follows the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate as the second leg of the Triple Crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, will be announced at a special draw at Fort Erie on Wednesday.

Eye of the Leopard and Mr. Foricos Two U, the 1-2 finishers in the Queen's Plate, also are scheduled to be among six entrants.

Milwaukee Appeal, owned by Eugene George and trained by Scott Fairlie, already has taken up temporary residence at Fort Erie and breezed four furlongs in 49.60 under exercise rider Richard Lopez on Monday.

"She went an easy half, with her first three-eighths in 36.20," said Fairlie, who also schooled Milwaukee Ring in the paddock at Fort Erie on Monday afternoon. "It was a little quicker than I wanted, but that's okay. She just bounced across the track, very good."

Milwaukee Appeal, who was swinging back in the Queen's Plate two weeks after winning the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks, checked into Fort Erie on Saturday night and had her first gallop there on Sunday.

Eye of the Leopard and Mr. Foricos Two U both had their major tune-ups for the Prince of Wales at Woodbine this past weekend.

Eye of the Leopard, who won both the 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial and the Queen's Plate by margins of a neck, had jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva in the irons when he breezed six furlongs in 1:12 over the dirt training track on Sunday.

Older stablemate Catch the Luck, who is coming off a track-record performance here at 1 1/16 miles, acted as the pacemaker.

Eye of the Leopard "started out a couple of lengths behind, so he'd get some dirt in his face," said Mark Frostad, who trains the homebred colt for Sam-Son Farm. "He wheeled out, caught him, and pulled away."

Frostad timed Eye of the Leopard galloping out seven furlongs in 1:25.40 and pulling up through a mile in 1:40.40.

Mr. Foricos Two U worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 on the training track last Saturday.

With exercise rider Candice Bowyer in the irons, Mr. Foricos Two U broke off behind Dr. Funkenstein, who gave way to his stablemate and finished in 1:02.20.

"He came his last quarter in 24.20, which was good, and he galloped out well," said Catherine Day Phillips, who trains Mr. Foricos Two U for Rocco d'Alimonte and Frank Annecchini.

Flip for the Coin and Keino West, the fifth- and sixth-place finishers in the Queen's Plate, also are on target for the Prince of Wales.

Flip for the Coin, owned and bred by Molinaro Stable, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 on the training track under jockey Steven Bahen here last Saturday.

"He worked awesome," said trainer Vito Armata, adding that he had caught Flip for the Coin galloping out six furlongs in 1:14 and pulling up through seven furlongs in 1:28.

Keino West, who ran sixth in the Queen's Plate, journeyed to Fort Erie and breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 under his regular rider Gerry Olguin on Sunday before returning to his Woodbine base.

"It was great," said trainer Steve Attard, who had schooled Keino West in the paddock there Saturday. "It looked to me like he was going slow."

Expected to round out the field is Gallant, who is owned by Woodford Racing LLC and trained by Mark Casse.

Gallant, who had finished second to Eye of the Leopard in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race before winning his maiden by a nose at 1 1/8 miles on May 31, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.20 under jockey Corey Fraser on the training track here Saturday.

"He seemed to handle it," said Casse.

Both Milwaukee Appeal and Gallant will have to be supplemented to the Prince of Wales at a cost of $12,500.