Hippolytus under Tyler Pizarro will be looking to improve in the Prince of Wales Stakes
The second race of the Canadian Triple Crown series, the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes will commence on 17 July at Fort Erie. It falls between the Queen’s Plate in June and the Breeders Stakes in August.
Among the Ontario-bred colts and geldings will be Hippolytus, the runner-up in Canada’s opening jewel of the Triple Crown, Queen’s Plate. Hippolytus was sent at as low as 61 to 1 to win the Queen’s Plate.
The field for 1 3/16 mile Prince of Wales Stakes will attract seven colts and gelding, five of the seven runners are coming out of Queen’s Plate.
For the Prince of Wales Stakes, Hippolytus, son of Philanthropist, has been favoured for the race and got much better odds than before.
He is 2 to 1 on the morning line.
The 3-year-old gelding made long strides at Woodbine in the Queen’s Plate and led the lot at the top of the stretch going to beat 15 other horses on the Poly Track, but fell short of Inglorious who defeated Hippolytus by 2 ½ lengths.
Trained by Josie Carroll, Inglorious the Queen’s Plate winner will skip the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown series for Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes on 20 August.
Hippolytus excited his connections during the first leg of the Triple Crown, as he darted off past favourite’s like Check Your Soul and Bowman’s Causeway under jockey Tyler Pizarro.
Prior to the Triple Corwn, Hippolytus has had two races in the 2011 season, running in the Plate Trial at Woodbine on 5 June was a test of the geldings ability to conjure up pace and stamina for the tough competition ahead, but finished fourth on the day,
hence the 61 to 1 odds for Queen’s Plate.
Hippolytus was coming off a win in the Mcl at Woodbine before the Plate Trial, which he won by significant margin over rivals Control and Curgone on 7 May, 2011.
The 3-year-old gelding might be coming on his own as the Prince of Wales Stakes approaches, and the punters had seen it too in the Queen’s Plate to mark him as the favourite among six other colts and geldings.
The third choice for the race is Perfect Soul, sent at 7 to 2. The colt will be roused by Patrick Husbands who draws from the outside post for trainer Roger Attfield.
Pender Harbour on the other hand is the second choice at 3 to 1 under jockey Michael DePaulo. He was 15 to 1 in the Queen’s Plate.
Other entrants would be the sixth place finisher at Queen’s Plate, Oh Canada and Proud Citizen who wore blinker for the first time in the Queen’s Plate.
Jockey Tyler Pizarro felt that it would be good to make Hippolytus wear blinkers because he thought the three-year-old gelding gets intimidated by his competition.
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