In the aftermath of the unfortunate postponement of the 165th King’s Plate from last Saturday, one of many questions that came up was that of the fate of the PRINCE OF WALES STAKES, the second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, set for September 10.
At this point, with the Plate being moved to this Friday, Aug. 23, the Prince of Wales will stay put, according to a release from Fort Erie:
While severe weather in Toronto on Saturday forced the postponement of the King’s Plate, the race team at Fort Erie determined there is no need to adjust the date for the second leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown.
“Our schedule this year already had a few extra days built in between the first and second races of the Triple Crown,” explained Fort Erie Race Track’s general manager, Drew Cady. “So even with the Plate pushed back six days, we still have a full 18 days of rest in between, which provides plenty of downtime between races so that horses from the King’s Plate can run again in the Prince of Wales Stakes.”
Post positions for the 89th Prince of Wales Stakes will be drawn on Sept. 5 by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, which will set the field for the big race on Sept. 10. The final leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown will return to Woodbine 19 days later for the Breeders’ Stakes.
The first post for the Sept. 10 racecard is 1 p.m., with the Prince of Wales Stakes scheduled to hit the track around 5:30 p.m.
The Prince of Wales, at least in modern times, has always been three to four weeks after the Plate. The only recent example of a shorter time between the two races was during the COVID-plagued 2020 racing season when the Plate was moved to August. Mighty Heart easily won the Plate and came back just 17 days later and won the Prince of Wales.
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