Paramount Prince, who proved swiftest of 17 Canadian-breds in last month’s King’s Plate at Woodbine, heads another sizable field of 12 in Tuesday’s C$400,000 Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie, the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown.
Bettors were lukewarm to the prospect of Paramount Prince reproducing his five-length, wire-to-wire score of the Plate Trial in the 1 1/4-mile King’s Plate, in which he started at 8-1. But the Mark Casse-trained gelding made another uncontested lead and forgot to stop, winning by 1 1/2 lengths under Patrick Husbands.
The 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales will mark the first outing on dirt for most of the entrants, including Paramount Prince. An exception is Plate Trial runner-up Cool Kiss, who placed second in an allowance at Gulfstream last winter. However, Cool Kiss was not competitive in the King’s Plate, crossing the wire a distant seventh after enduring a wide trip around both turns.
Among the rest of the Prince of Wales entries, Stanley House fared best in the King’s Plate when rallying for third. The field also includes King’s Plate also-rans Morstachy’s (11th), Twin City (8th), Kaukokaipuu (15th), and Velocitor (4th).
Casse is also represented by the multiple stakes-placed Stayhonor Goodside, while the Josie Carroll-trained Ottawa figures to get at least some hunch play despite his maiden status.
