Dates set for first two legs of Canadian triple crown
The Prince of Wales Stakes, the signature event on the racing calendar at Fort Erie Race Track and the second jewel in Canadian thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown, will run for the 89th time on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Last year, a record $1.05 million — nearly double the previous high of $650,000 — was wagered on the one-and-3/16-mile race on dirt that featured some of the fastest three-year-olds bred in Canada.
The Prince of Wales program in 2023 also set a record for wagering with a total of $3.48 million.
“We’re looking forward to following up on the success of last year’s incredible Prince of Wales Stakes, where wagering topped $1 million for the first time ever by once again delivering a high-quality product that will make horse racing fans across the globe want to tune in and watch,” Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium chief executive officer Jim Thibert said in a news release.
A field of 11, the largest in 20 years, in the $400,000 stakes race was led across the finish by jockey Justin Stein aboard 7-to-1 favourite.
It was Stein’s second Prince of Wales victory in as many years. In 2022, he rode Duke of Love, the eighth-place finisher in the then Queen’s Plate and a horse with upwards of 900 owners, to victory.
This year’s Canadian Triple Crown is scheduled to get underway with the King’s Plate on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. The date for the final leg, the Breeders’ Stakes, also held at Woodbine, has yet to be announced.
In all, there have been 12 Triple Crown winners in Canada but none since Wando swept the Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales and Breeders’ Stakes in 2003.
Canada’s Triple Crown is unique in that is contested at three distances on three race surfaces: Queen’s Plate, 1 1/4 mile, Tapeta, a sand, fibre, rubber and wax mixture; Prince of Wales Stakes, 1 3/16 mile, dirt; Breeders Stakes, 1 1/2 mile, turf.
Fort Erie’s 127th season of live racing is to begin Tuesday, May 28, with regular programs running most Mondays and Tuesdays. Weekend events include Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16; Wiener Dog Races, Sunday, July 21; as well as for the first time corgi and basset hound races, Sunday, Aug. 18.
A full schedule of events and stake events is available at fortracing.com.
