Tone Broke made the late move Tuesday, powering past Avie’s Flatter and One Bad Boy in the stretch to win the CAN$400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown series.
The Steve Asmussen-trained, Ontario-bred 3-year-old ran third June 29 behind those two in Woodbine’s Queen’s Plate Stakes, the first leg of the series.
One Bad Boy, who wired the Queen’s Plate field, jumped out Tuesday in the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie Race Track. He set fractions of :23.5, :48.03 and 1:12.59 to lead the field of five most of the way through the 1 3/16-mile dirt stakes.
“He broke a step slow,” said Flavien Prat, jockey on the even money favourite. “I left out of there and I was fine on the lead – he was comfortable, he was relaxing well – but when I asked him to make a run he could not stay the same pace. It’s probably not his best surface and the start might have cost him a little bit too.”
The Josie Carroll trainee Avie’s Flatter then came on through the far turn to pass the pace-setter and looked in position entering the stretch to come home for a victory.
But Tone Broke and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. found room in the middle of the track and drove on to pull a mild upset at 5-1 odds.
“The longer the races are, he’s going to be better and today he proved a lot," Santana Jr. said. "He kept fighting to the end and he gave me a nice finish at the end.”
“I kind of think he’ll go ahead and finish up the Canadian Triple Crown, but actually it’ll be up to Steve and the owners to decide,” said Darren Fleming, assistant trainer to Asmussen, on the next assignment for Tone Broke. “I think the further the better and he’s versatile. He’s been on the [synthetic track] one time and he liked it. I don’t think the turf will bother him a bit. He’s that good, he’s a nice horse.”
The Canadian Triple Crown series moves back to Woodbine on Aug. 17 for the CAN$400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, which is run 1 ½ miles over turf.
