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The Prince Of Wales’s Stakes

THE PRINCE OF WALES’S STAKES - G1 Mile and a Quarter

This is the elite test for the WFA horses over the carnival. At the champions distance of a mile and a quarter, the race has provided some memorable winners including in recent years a run of Dubai Millennium, Fantastic Light and Grandera. Australia’s best WFA in many year So You Think gained redemption for 2012 by winning last year.

Previous Winners - Last 10 Years

* Run at York

PROFILING THE RACE OVER RECENT YEARS

o Group One since 2000, the minimum age for horses to run in this is four.

o French trained horses have won three of the last six while Godolphin have taken it five times since 1998.

o Back at the turn of the previous century, John Porter trained the winner eight times.

o Race has been shared amongst many of the leading European jockeys in recent years.

o Not many upsets except when Rewilding knocked off So You Think.

o Winner’s Lead Up Races - Prix D’Ispahan (2), Prix Ganay (1), Tatts Gold Cup (3), Coronation Cup (1), Spell (3)

RECENT WINNERS

2012 - SO YOU THINK 6h (High Chaparral x Triassic) (4-5 fav)

Jockey: Joseph O’Brien, Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Barrier: 7, Weight: 57.0kg, Gross Time: 2:03.86

Margin: 2.5L, Track: Good, Starters: 11

2nd: Carlton House (57.0kg), 3rd: Farhh (57.0kg)

Review: As we mentioned earlier, this was a classic and deserved case of redemption. The mighty stallion had done so much winning two Cox Plate in Australia plus another 3 x G1s there and four more in Europe including two of the best WFA contests around beating Workforce in an Eclipse and Snow Fairy in an Irish Champion. He set up for this after the Dubai World Cup run which seemed hard and a romp in his second Tatts Gold Cup. He’d never needed a leader but he got one anyway from Robin Hood. Perfectly placed in the box seat he loved the speed on. The Queen’s horse Carlton House got underneath him and was level at the furlong but the champ’s strength showed through.

2011 - REWILDING 4h (Tiger Hill x Darara) (17-2)

Jockey: Frankie Dettori, Trainer: Mahmood Al Zarooni

Barrier: 6, Weight: 57.0kg, Gross Time: 2:04.24

Margin: 0.4L, Track: Good, Starters: 7

2nd: So You Think (57.0kg), 3rd: Sri Putra (57.0kg)

Review: This really was supposed to be the coronation of So You Think following his two Curragh runs. The big horse from Australia was theoretically to claim the mantle of the best in Europe. But things don’t always go to plan. Godolphin had long thought Rewilding was a top horse after placing in Workforce’s Derby and he also won the Sheema Classic easily. Back to a mile and a quarter in this, he got back in the small field as So You Think nearly got cleaned up early by Jan Vermeer in a fast race. Frankie charged out wide at Ryan Moore, who went very early, and gunned him down in the last 50m.

2010 - BYWORD 4h (Peintre Celebre x Binche) (5-2 fav)

Jockey: Maxime Guyon, Trainer: Andre Fabre

Barrier: 8, Weight: 57.0kg, Gross Time: 2:05.35

Margin: 0.5L, Track: Fast, Starters: 12

2nd: Twice Over (57.0kg), 3rd: Tazeez (57.0kg)

Review: Despite being with different stables, Prince Khalid Abdullah had a stranglehold on this race. While he was later to gain even more excitement with Frankel, he had two WFA heroes in the form of Byword and Twice Over. The former was narrowly beaten by Goldikova in the D’Ispahan which was always going to be a strong lead up as the older Twice Over was already a G1 winner. In a race they revved up from the four marker out, the white faced 4yo camped just on the leaders sitting one by one, ready to strike. He took over inside the furlong and just held his mate out.