WONDER GADOT WINS PRINCE OF WALES STAKES
Filly follows up Queen’s Plate victory with convincing win in Prince of Wales Stakes
Two win droughts ended when Wonder Gadot crossed the finish line 5¾ lengths ahead of the field at the Prince of Wales Stakes.
Not only did the 4-to-1 favourite become the first Queen’s Plate winner to set the pace in the second jewel of Canadian thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown since Wando in 2013, she also became the first filly to win the Prince of Wales since Dixie Strike in 2012.
The drought between Triple Crown winners will likely continue for at least one more year, though. Rather than return to Woodbine for the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes Saturday, Aug. 18, Wonder Gadot in all likelihood will be entered in the Alabama Stakes, a $600,000 race for threeyear-old fillies in Saratoga.
Wonder Gadot came into the Prince of Wales used to coming from the back of the field, but John Velazquez decided she needed to be up front after he assessed the sloppy track.
“I was warming up and the more I warmed up, the more I looked at the track and I said, ‘I can’t have her behind horses today because the track doesn’t look right for her,’” he said. “I wanted to keep her face clean, where she’s comfortable in front.
“I can’t have her behind hores.”
Wonder Gadot, who covered the 1 3/16 in a time of 1:58.711 and $240,000, had never been in the lead with Velazquez in the saddle.
“She’s always been close to the lead or something like that, but not actually in the lead the way she was today,” he said. “We learned something about her today.”
Whether fans at Fort Erie would learn anything first-hand about Wonder Gadot remained in doubt until about 20 minutes before the race. In his post-race remarks, trainer Mark Casse admitted he came close to scratching a prized filly that he described as “my child.”
“I didn’t have concerns with her, I was more concerned with her health and worrying about her,” he said. “You know what, she’s my child and they don’t come around very often like this.
“Honestly, I was seriously thinking about scratching her. I was kind of going on the fence, back and forth.”
The 83rd running of the Prince of Wales Stakes was the 60th around the oval at Fort Erie, as well as the 31st on dirt and the current racing distance of 1 3/ 16th mile.
Prior to moving to Fort Erie in 1959, the Prince of Wales was contested at various distances at three tracks in Toronto: Thorncliffe Park Raceway, 1929-30, 1932-42, 1947-52; old Woodbine Racetrack, 1953-55; Woodbine, 1956.
Tom Valiquette, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium, isn’t worried the Prince of Wales Stakes will return to its Toronto roots any time soon.
“That is not on the table, that has not been discussed,” he said. “I can’t say where we are going in the future, but I see no reason why that would happen.”
Only six horses went to the post in the Prince of Wales Tuesday night, down considerably from the all-time high of 14 in 1973. Valiquette suggested this was indicative of the industry, rather than the race itself.
“In stakes races in this day and age across North America, you can get small fields,” he said.
“It’s one thing in the Kentucky Derby and Queen’s Plate, they always get huge fields, but once you get out of that, quite frankly, horses pick their spots.
“We wish it were bigger, but the reality is horses will pick the
spots where they can make the most money.
“That’s the way the cookie crumbled for us this year.”
He wasn’t surprised Wonder Gadot is foregoing the chance to win the Canadian Triple Crown in favour of a more-lucrative payday south of the border.
“There is no money associated with winning the Canadian Triple Crown,” Valiquette said. “There is prestige, and, sure, the prestige matters, but the trainer and the owner will pick the spots to maximize a horse’s value.”