Queen’s Plate winner Mighty Heart nominated for $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes

FORT ERIE, Ont. — It seems a run at the OLG Canadian Triple Crown is on Mighty Heart’s radar.

The Queen’s Plate winner was among nine horses nominated for the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes. The second jewel of the Triple Crown, a 1 3/16-mile race on dirt, is scheduled for Sept. 29 at Fort Erie Racetrack.

The connections of horses nominated paid $1,000 by Wednesday. An additional $5,000 is due when making final entry.

Horses not originally nominated can still run in the race, but would have to pay a $12,500 supplemental fee.

Diasuke Fukumoto rode the one-eyed Mighty Heart to a convincing 7 1/2-length win in the Plate last Saturday at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack. Mighty Heart, who lost an eye in an accident as a foal, still secured trainer Josie Carroll a third Plate victory.

Second-place finisher Belichick, also trained by Carroll, wasn’t among the Prince of Wales nominees. Plate Trial winner Clayton, who was third in the Plate, was nominated along with Tecumseh’s War, the fourth-place finisher in the Plate trained by Catherine Day-Phillips.

Mark Casse, Canada’s top trainer 11 times, didn’t have a horse in the Plate but has nominated Bold Victory and Muskoka Giant for the Prince of Wales.

The other nominees were Dotted Line (trained by Sid Attard), Truebelieve (trained by Cole Bennett), Enchant Me (trained by Santino DiPaola) and Halo Again (trained by Steven Asmussen). Asmussen won last year’s race with Tone Broke.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2020.

The Canadian Press