Tone Broke likely to try turf in Breeders' Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A surface change to dirt and blinkers off were two keys to victory for Tone Broke in Tuesday’s $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Fort Erie.

Based at Churchill Downs with trainer Steve Asmussen, Tone Broke had zero synthetic-track experience when he finished a creditable third to One Bad Boy and Avie’s Flatter in the $1 million Queen’s Plate on the Tapeta on June 29 at Woodbine.

Tone Broke had previously finished second to Maximum Security’s eventual conqueror, King for a Day, in the Sir Barton Stakes on the dirt at Pimlico. It wasn’t surprising to see him mow down the Queen’s Plate protagonists in the stretch en route to a daylight score at 5.60-1 in the Prince of Wales, under Ricardo Santana Jr.

Assistant trainer Darren Fleming said Tone Broke had a more laid-back approach in the Prince of Wales, without the blinkers.

“He was a little anxious in the Queen’s Plate,” Fleming explained. “He didn’t want to settle in the first quarter of a mile. Today, he was a lot more smooth. He was very relaxed, within himself. Ricardo just waited to see what everybody else was going to do, and we knew he’d finish up.”

Fleming said Tone Broke could contest the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 12-furlong Breeders’ Stakes here Aug. 17, which would be his first turf start.

“That will be up to Steve and the owners to decide, but I kind of think he’ll go ahead and finish out the Canadian Triple Crown,” Fleming said. “I think the farther, the better. And he’s versatile. He’s been on the [Tapeta] one time, and he liked it. I don’t think the turf will bother him a bit. I think he’d run on broken glass.”

The favored One Bad Boy broke a bit slowly and then rushed up to set the pace before weakening to third under Flavien Prat, who also rode him to victory in the Queen’s Plate.

“It’s probably not his best surface, and the start might have cost him a little bit, too,” Prat said.