Prince for a Day; Bargain Purchase Takes King's Plate

To reach the summit, you have to take a chance.

The people associated with PARAMOUNT PRINCE, the newest King’s Plate winner, did just that and were rewarded with a front-running, walk-in-the-park display by their chestnut three-year-old who took the $1 million Canadian classic on August 20 in front of a big crowd at Woodbine racetrack.

From breeder Ericka Rusnak, a young horse-loving woman who has dabbled in breeding racehorses, to Mike and Charmaine Langlois, who bought the horse as a yearling based on the word of their young trainer Jamie Attard, to Gary Barber, film producer and owner of many million-dollar horses, who purchased half of Paramount Prince last fall, many chances were taken.

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The 164th Plate, renamed the King’s Plate this year following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, was said to be a sell-out and for those lucky enough to score the expensive tickets to any spot at the track, they had a lot of fabulous races to cheer, including the 1 1/4 mile Plate itself.

They were so pumped by the day that fans with lots in their pockets to get a seat inside bet a whopping $18 million on the card, fueled in part by a mandatory payout of the High 5 wager on the last race, blowing past the $16 million record set two years ago.

The star of the day was Paramount Prince, an Ontario-sired gelded son of Society’s Chairman, the elder statesman of Shannondoe Farm in St. Thomas, ON owned by James Everatt, the late Janease Everatt and their daughter Arika Everatt-Meeuse. Ridden confidently by champion jockey Patrick Husbands for his longtime mentor, trainer Mark Casse, Paramount Prince was like a jackrabbit out of his post 13 at the start of the 1 1/4 mile race on Tapeta. Most of his 16 rivals were quickly in stride behind him, except for Roger Attfield’s Twowaycrossing, who was antsy in the gate and wound up being left behind by many lengths.

The first two furlongs, closed in 23.28. saw Paramount Prince, at 8-to-1, already clear of 59-to-1 shot Silent Miracle and 70-to-1 shot Velocitor. Plate favourite Kalik (Collected), trained by Chad Brown, was expected to be a pace presence but never entered the fray and Queenston Stakes winner Kaukokaipuu, also a colt with natural speed, was far back.

Through half a mile in 47.41 (trainer Casse would say later he knew his trainee was going to be tough to beat at that point) Paramount Prince still had a clear lead while stablemate Elysian Field, the Woodbine Oaks winner, snuck up the rail under jockey Sahin Civaci. Six furlongs went in 1:11.81 and still, Husbands and the Prince were clear. Second-favourite Stanley House, trained by Mike DePaulo for John and Diana Russell, had been in a jackpot of traffic and was starting to move wide under American rider Javier Castellano while Al and Bill Ulwelling’s Velocitor kept up the chase.

But no one really threatened Paramount Prince, who was named by Charmaine Langlois, and the gelding flew under the wire in front of Elysian Field, owned by Barber and Team Valor International, by 1 1/2 lengths. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to Stanley House and four more back to Velocitor. In fact, not a lot happened in the race from start to finish and the final time was a decent 2:01.93, good for a career best 93 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

For the win, Paramount Prince earned $600,000 for his third win in six races, boosting his career earnings to $738,579.

“He’s so quick from the gate and that’s where he won it,” said Casse, who was winning his third Plate. “He outbroke them and I knew when he went by us the first time he was travelling well. I was with Gary Barber, and we saw the half in :47 and I said, ‘That’s not too bad.’ And that Elysian Field, she’s tough, she came up. But it was a dream come true.”

Elysian Field, bred by David Anderson and a daughter of Hard Spun, has blossomed nicely for the Casse crew and Stanley House, a son of Army Mule, has now had two tough trips in succession.

For Langlois, this is the second horse he has owned. He claimed his first horse in 2021 with family friend Jamie Attard and then purchased Paramount Prince as a yearling from breeder Ericka Rusnak for $21,000 at the 2021 CTHS sale after the horse failed to meet his reserve price. Attard prepared the horse to win first time out in November by nine lengths. That piqued the interest of Barber, who has made a habit of buying Woodbine-based horses and winning stakes with them. Barber’s people contacted Langlois, who insisted the horse race once more for Attard before he would be transferred to Casse. Paramount Prince finished third in the Clarendon Stakes and then headed south to Florida.

In April, Paramount Prince was a modest second in an optional claiming race and then second to Kaukokaipuu in the Queenston. Once he stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Plate Trial, however, it was different story as the gelding won by 5 lengths.

And talk about taking chances: Ericka Rusnak, who had been a long-time manager at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm for Glenn Sikura, stepped out to buy a broodmare about 12 years ago. She had immediate success as Stormin Wife produced graded stakes winner Paladin Bay.

In 2017, at the Keeneland November sale, Rusnak paid $25,000 for Platinum Steel, a daughter of Eddington, in foal to Kantharos. Not long after the mare produced a colt the next year, her half-brother Army Mule won the Grade 1 Carter Stakes in New York. Rusnak offered her colt at the CTHS Ontario sale that fall, but bought him back for $85,000. She named him Man of Steel, but the colt never won a race.

The mare’s 2019 foal, a filly, Just Imagine, never made it to the races, and then came Paramount Prince. The mare’s two-year-old of this year, Its Time to Shine, is currently with trainer John Ross.

The second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown is the 1 3/16 mile Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie and in all likelihood, Paramount Prince is headed there.

Oh, and you can bid on his half-sister by Souper Speedy at the August 30 yearling sale put on by the CTHS Ontario at Woodbine. She is hip number 174.

It would seem to be a chance worth taking.