Striking while the iron is hot

“This Prince of Wales is not going to be a walkover. No race is ever a walkover. But I feel like he might get out there and relax a little bit more than how he did in the Plate, and we hope that we can go all the way.”

Striking while the iron is hot, trainer Willie Armata believes Ironstone has a strong chance of clinching the second jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown (CTC), the Prince of Wales stakes, on Tuesday afternoon.

Ironstone is one of seven horses attempting to capture the 87th running of the historic stakes race at Fort Erie Race Track. The grey almost black colt, with speckles of silver through his body and tail, is coming into the race off an impressive fourth-place finish in last month’s Queen’s Plate. Ironstone

“I was really happy with the way he ran in the Plate. It might have been a tad too far for him but going forward I think that the Prince of Wales will be a lot better for him because it’s a little bit shorter. I find that the speed carries a little bit more on the dirt than it does on the tapeta track,” said Armata.

The Queen’s Plate, the first jewel of the CTC, is run over Woodbine racetrack’s tapeta course going a mile and a quarter (10 furlongs). The second jewel, The Prince of Wales, is contested over Fort Erie’s dirt track, going a mile and three sixteenths (9.5 furlongs). The third jewel, the Breeders’ Stakes, is run on Woodbine’s turf course going a mile and a half (12 furlongs). The CTC series is restricted to three-year-old thoroughbreds foaled in Canada.