The Canadian champion 3-year-old Pender Harbour will start his 2012 campaign in the Eclipse Stakes
The Canadian champion 3-year-old, Pender Harbour, achieved this status after winning two-thirds of the Canadian Triple Crown last year in 2011, and now he will be looking to make his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Eclipse Stakes.
Owned by Denny Andrews and Robert Giffin, Pender Harbour finished third in the Queen’s Plate Stakes over the Woodbine’s synthetic surface over a distance of 1 ¼ miles 26 June, 2011.
But bounced back well in the Canadian Triple Crown and bagged the second leg, Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie on dirt, where he defeated the stubborn Bowman’s Causeway in second and Oh Canada in third, wrapping up the 1 3/16 mile race in 1 minute and 55.74 seconds.
Down to the Breeders’ Stakes at about 1 ½ miles over the Woodbine’s turf course, Pender Harbour on 7 August, 2011, downed the field, and defeated the likes of Celtic Conviction and Crown’s Path in the stretch, who finished second and third, respectively, while the winner topped the distance in 2 minutes and 36.31 seconds.
Bred in Ontario, Canada, Pender Harbour at the end of the season stayed at Woodbine and won the Bunty Lawless Stakes at about a mile on turf.
Taking 1 minute and 38.66 seconds to win the mile long race, Pender Harbour was sent against older horses to compete in the Autumn Stakes over the venue’s synthetic surface on 12 November, 2011.
The son of Philanthropist finished a close second to, Straight Story in the 1 1/16 mile event, as Stunning Stag finished third on the day.
Out of Hail The Ruckus mare Uproar, Pender Harbour’s only blemish was at Parx Racing when he went against a seriously tough lot in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at about 1 1/8 miles, and finished eighth to winner, To Honor and Serve.
In the Eclipse Stakes, trainer Mike DePaulo figures that Pender Harbour will be at a disadvantage after taking a winter break.
“We’re up against winter-trained horses who might have a race or two under their belt,” DePaulo pointed out. “He’s been training real well, but training and racing are two different things. He hasn’t run in six months, so we need to start him somewhere. We get a little break in the weights.”
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