My Boy Prince overcomes slow to start to win King's Plate Trial
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Heavily-favored My Boy Prince won Saturday’s $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes in workmanlike fashion at Woodbine after a tardy start in the 1 1/18-mile prep for the prestigious King’s Plate.
Normally a front-runner, My Boy Prince broke 1 1/2 lengths behind the others before settling into a three-wide stalking position on the backstretch under Sahin Civaci.
Friendly Ghost set slow fractions while being pressed by Piper’s Factor before My Boy Prince was hard-ridden into contention on the far turn.
My Boy Prince hit the front inside the eighth pole before holding off the 26-1 maiden Rafaroo en route to a 1 1/4-length score, in time of 1:51.12. Friendly Ghost faded to third and was followed by Piper’s Factor, Jokestar, No More Options, and Beautiful Sky.
“He broke a little bad, but he pulled through,” Civaci said. “It’s a little worrisome, if they get away from you. The pace was going a little easy. I got up into a nice spot. He has tactical speed. I didn’t mind him sitting off the pace, just because there’s going to be a lot of horses in the King’s Plate and anything could happen. Sometimes, he can’t be on the lead, so I wanted to see if he could relax a little bit, and he did relax.”
My Boy Prince, last year’s Canadian champion male 2-year-old, paid $2.50. The son of Cairo Prince earned $90,000 in his third consecutive stakes win for owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse.
The $1 million King’s Plate goes Aug. 17 at Woodbine.
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