Prince of Wales Stakes
| Restricted race | |
Norcliffe, painted by Bob Demuyser (1920-2003)
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| Location |
Fort Erie Race Track Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1929 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred – Flat racing |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1 3⁄16 miles (9.5 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-olds (foaled in Canada) |
| Weight | Scale Weight |
| Purse | $500,000 (Canadian) |
The Prince of Wales Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fort Erie Race Track in Fort Erie, Ontario. Restricted to only three-year-old horses bred in Canada, it is contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and three sixteenths (9.5 furlongs). In 1959, the Prince of Wales Stakes became the second race in the Canadian Triple Crown series. It follows the June running of the Queen's Plate and precedes the Breeders' Stakes in August.
The race was inaugurated in 1929 at the now defunct Thorncliffe Park Raceway in today's Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood of central east Toronto.
In 1959, the E.P. Taylor colt New Providence emerged as a Triple Crown champion in its first year of existence. In the ensuing years, six more three-year-olds have equaled the feat. In 2014, it was decided to grandfather the five horses who had won the series prior to 1959 as well.
According to the racetrack's website, for fans, the most popular winner of the race was the Canadian and American Hall of Fame filly Dance Smartly who went on to win the 1991 Triple Crown.
In 1995 Barbara J. Minshall became the first woman to train the winner of a Canadian Triple Crown race when the Minshall Farms colt Kiridashi won. To date, no female jockey has won the Prince of Wales Stakes, although Francine Villeneuve and Autumn Snow lost the 2005 running by a nose to Ablo.
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