The most heartbreaking loss of Pleasant Prince’s career came by a nose, so it was only fitting that the Florida-bred colt’s biggest win came by the same margin in Saturday’s $100,000 Ohio Derby (G3).
Pleasant Prince’s hard-charging stretch run came up just short against Ice Box in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park in March, but the son of Indy King wound up on the right end of a photo finish at Thistledown. With Alex Solis aboard for the first time, Pleasant Prince made a bold move to split horses down the stretch and nail Worldly at the wire for his first graded stakes victory.
“I got beat by the dirtiest nose in the Florida Derby, so for me, this race was one of the greatest races I’ve ever seen, of course, because I was on the right end of the photo,” said Pleasant Prince’s trainer, Wesley Ward. “I’ve got to give all the credit to Alex Solis. This horse can be lazy, and he got into him right-handed and left-handed and split a pair of horses. He made the difference.”
Pleasant Prince, bred at Adena Springs South in Williston, took his usual position near the back of the pack early in the 1 1⁄8-mile Ohio Derby but remained in striking distance throughout. He was in seventh place after Slewzoom led the field through a quarter of a mile in 24 seconds flat and moved up to sixth as Mykindacandy took over the lead and covered a half-mile in 48.16 seconds.
Solis sent Pleasant Prince three-wide around the far turn, and the colt steadily made up ground on the leader, getting to fourth place at the top of the lane. He split horses inside the sixteenth pole and got up in the final strides, stopping the clock in 1:43.90.
Pleasant Prince delivered as the favorite in a field of 10 3-year-olds, returning mutuels of $5.60, $3 and $2.40. Worldly paid $4.80 and $3.60 after finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Capitol Appeal, who returned $7.20 to show.
Ward said he hadn’t been pleased with Pleasant Prince’s workouts on Keeneland’s synthetic surface in recent weeks, but the horse signaled that he was sitting on a big race when he turned in a bullet workout on Thistledown’s dirt track July 24, breezing a half-mile in 58 2⁄5 seconds.
“I think the horse is a total dirt-surface horse rather than a synthetic,” Ward said. “His works were a little dismal (at Keeneland), but I took him up a week early to Cleveland and breezed him, and he had an outstanding work. He was good and fresh and was really prepped to run a big one.”
Pleasant Prince has won two of his 11 starts and earned $284,398 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey. He was a $30,000 purchase at OBS as a yearling in August 2008. Pleasant Prince has made six consecutive starts in graded events. In addition to his runner-up finish in the Florida Derby, he ran third in the Derby Trial Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in April, then finished a disappointing 11th in the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico in May.
Ward said Pleasant Prince likely will make his next start in either the $1 million Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 28 or the $500,000 Super Derby (G2) at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 25.
For Worldly, the Ohio Derby was his second straight narrow defeat in a big race. The son of A. P. Indy finished second in the Northern Dancer Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in June, a neck behind Colizeo.
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– Photo of Florida-bred Pleasant Prince by Reed Palmer
