Fort Erie Race Track is all set for the big stage starting this weekend, culminating with Canada Day. Sunday at the Fort there are nine races with the feature being the first stake race of the year. The Rainbow Connections covers five furlongs on the turf course. The big purse of $125,000 has once again caught the interest of some nice fillies from Toronto as trainers and jockeys from the big city will be on hand for the Canada Day Festivities.
Canada Day is always a busy day at the Fort Erie Race Track. From past experience, it closely rivals opening day as the busiest day of the year – The Prince Of Wales Day! Now that the Queen’s Plate has concluded, and was won by Strait of Dover, congratulations go out to Justin Stein, Daniel Vella and Canyon Farms. But it’s now time to figure out the field and prep for The Prince of Wales Stakes. The 2nd leg of Canada’s Triple Crown is run three weeks after the first leg and is one mile and three-sixteenths and Fort Erie dirt oval.
This brings the big question for Strait of Dover, the new King of Woodbines polytrack; will he show up to try to win the Triple Crown on Fort Erie’s dirt track? He has had no success on dirt thus far in his life, with his only attempts coming at Hastings Race Course in Vancouver. This is going to be a tough call for Vella and his connections as Dover has never been beaten on the polytrack and has never hit the board on the dirt. Are they in it for the money or in it for the love/prestige? We all know how prestigious and hard it is to win the triple crown, for some owners it is all they strive for. Of course, they don’t want to lose money but are in the game for “moments”, and a chance like winning the Triple is too good to pass up.
July 15th is set, and quite possibly is the last running of The Prince of Wales Stakes. Time to get dressed up, girls get a chance to wear their favorite hats to cheer on and show their support for the greatest track in the world!
