Dixie Strike conquers the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes
15th July got the three-year-old filly the US$ 493,153 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie over 1 3/16-mile on a fast dirt track. Dixie Union’s daughter’s first experience at the dirt track did not disappoint the connections.
The race marks out to be the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing. The first in line is the Queen’s Plate that is raced over 1 ¼ miles on Polytrack at Ontario’s Woodbine Racetrack, Toronto while the final leg is the Breeders’ Stakes
on turf raced over the full lap of the E. P. Taylor Turf Course at Woodbine.
It tests the candidates over different distance and surface, polytrack, dirt and then turf. Last time the Triple Crown was won in 2003 by Wando, who raced through all the three spectacles with jockey, Patrick Husbands, onboard.
Just last year, 2011, jockey, Luis Contreras became the first rider to take over all the legs of the Crown with different horses.
Dixie Strike is half sister to the 2011 winner of the Queen’s Plate, Inglorious.
The concluding moments of the race had Colleen’s Sailor, Ultimate Destiny and Dixie Strike fighting over dominance. With Ultimate Destiny closing in on the distance, Dixie Strike drew clear towards the deep stretch riding over Colleen’s Sailor who was riding
with jockey, Corey Nakatani.
Three-year-old out of Smart Strike’s daughter, Noble Strike, defeated Ultimate Destiny by a length, and timed the track distance in a minute and :57.54 seconds.
The filly did not get into a high gear initially, and raced in the rear of the lot for a good half-mile before taking up the fifth position on the backstretch. It was on the far turn that Colleen’s Sailor led and permitted Dixie Strike to close in on some
more distance.
The participation of the three-year-old filly in the first leg of the Crown, the Queen’s Plate on 24th June, 2012 at Woodbine over 1 ¼ miles got her the third position behind the winner, Strait Of Dover. The runner-up of the race was, Irish Mission.
15th July was the third time that she won out of the seven starts that the Mark E. Casse undertook ever since the new season kick started.
"I saw her really improve from the Oaks to the Plate, and I saw a huge improvement from the Plate to this race," Casse said. "I felt really confident."
"She was a happy horse and I wanted to keep her a happy horse," Casse said.
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