Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot highlights field for Prince of Wales Stakes

FORT ERIE, Ont. — Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot drew the inside post for the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on Friday.

Wonder Gadot, who captured the Plate by a solid 4 3/4 lengths earlier this month, will break from the No. 1 post in the six-horse field Tuesday night at Fort Erie Racetrack. The 7/5 early favourite will attempt to become the first filly to win the 1 3/16-mile dirt race since Dixie Strike in 2012.

Even if Wonder Gadot wins the Prince of Wales, trainer Mark Casse said last week the horse won’t chase the OLG Canadian Triple Crown in the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, a 1 1/2-mile turf event at Woodbine on Aug. 18. Instead, the plan would be to run the horse named after Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot in the Grade 1 US$600,000 Alabama Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race for three-year-old fillies at Saratoga on the same day.

That means the late Wando remains the last Canadian Triple Crown winner, accomplishing the feat in 2003.

The field with post, horse, jockey and odds, includes: 1) Wonder Gadot, John Velazquez, 7/5; 2) Absolution, Rafael Hernandez, 6/1; 3) Cooler Mike, Jesse Campbell, 4/1; 4) Home Base, Joseph Rocco Jr., 8/1; 5) Aheadbyacentury, Luis Contreras, 5/2; 6) Eskiminzin, Sheena Ryan, 12/1.

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Contreras guided Aheadbyacentury to a second-place finish in the Plate. Contreras will be looking for third straight Prince of Wales victory while trainer John A Ross and owners Jack of Hearts Racing and J.R. Racing Stables Inc. are all chasing a second consecutive trip to the winner’s circle.

Contreras, Ross and the owners were victorious in last year’s Prince of Wales with Cool Catomine.

Campbell rode Cooler Mike to a third-place finish in the Plate.

Eskiminzin and Home Base are both supplemental entries, their handlers having paid an additional $12,500 to enter the race. Home Base shipped in from Kentucky earlier this week and has been getting familiar with Fort Erie’s track.

“We put some pretty solid works in him before he came up, but we have had him out on the track to stretch his legs a little bit, and he handles it well,” said Dennis Fries, the assistant to trainer Michael Tomlinson. “He does it very easily and he has a long stride.

“He has had a couple of unlucky races the two times we tried to run him in a longer race, but if he runs the way he did at Churchill and Keeneland earlier this year, he will be a tough horse.”

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

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