My Boy Prince crowned with sixth stakes victory in Listed Elusive Quality
Gary Barber’s dual Grade 1-placed My Boy Prince successfully cut back in distance to win his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Elusive Quality, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for older horses, at Belmont at the Big A.
Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the 4-year-old Cairo Prince gray was making his seasonal debut and first start as a gelding having last ran fifth in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf in November at Churchill Downs. That defeat marked his third consecutive off-the-board finish, all in races one-mile or farther.
My Boy Prince hit the board in a pair of one-mile Grade 1s as a juvenile, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita Park and the Summer at Woodbine Racetrack en route to Sovereign Award honors as Canada’s Champion 2-Year-Old Colt. He went on to win 3-of-8 starts last year, taking the King Corrie and restricted Queenston and Plate Trial over the Woodbine Tapeta.
Shane Tripp, assistant to Casse, said My Boy Prince’s bullet half-mile from the gate in 46.61 seconds on Sunday over the Belmont Park dirt training track indicated he was ready for action.
“He’s a lovely horse. He worked really, really fast the other day away from the gate,” said Tripp. “Probably a little quicker than I wanted to – but I figured he would give a good effort because every time you lead him over there, he usually gives you [one].”
Piloted by Jose Lezcano, My Boy Prince broke sharply from the outermost post 10 to press graded stakes-placed Nothing Better, who led through an opening quarter-mile in 21.79 seconds on the firm turf.
Nothing Better maintained a narrow lead into the turn, tracked intently by My Boy Prince, Alogon and Apollo Ten, with a slew of rivals in close behind and Bold Journey the trailer.
My Boy Prince, covering a half-mile in 44.36, put his head in front in the turn as Nothing Better tried to battle back along the rail. My Boy Prince held the lead with one furlong to run, but nearly the whole field was lined up and in with a chance.
"I think my horse was the class in the race, on paper. He broke right on top, right there,” said Lezcano. “He was there for me the whole time. When I asked him, he took off and won the race.”
My Boy Prince kicked powerfully as Bold Journey emerged as the biggest threat down the center of the course under Eric Cancel. However, My Boy Prince had plenty left as he went on to a one-length score in a final time of 1:07.53.
Bold Journey was a nose better than Alogon for second, with the same margin to Twenty Six Black in fourth and Senbei in fifth. Shards, Horsepower, Marcus Gift, Nothing Better, and Apollo Ten completed the order of finish. Main track-only entrants Surveillance and Unlimitedpotential were scratched.
“He switched to his left lead and I’m sure he was getting a little tired his first race of the year, but Mark does a good job,” said Tripp. “He gelded him and he’s going to have an exciting year this year.”
Lezcano, aboard in the afternoon for the first time, said My Boy Prince made his job easy.
“Right from the break, all I did was keep him together. I never moved a hand – he did everything himself,” said Lezcano.
Cancel said the Hall of Famer Bill Mott-trained Bold Journey ran well in his third start on turf– and first since June 2023 when winning an allowance at Belmont Park with Cancel up. He also piloted the New York-bred to a Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap score in December 2023 on the local dirt.
“He has two races on the turf, and they’ve been really good races. One of them he won and the other he finished second – I wasn’t concerned about it,” said Cancel. “I was only concerned if they were going to come back to me and he ran a hell of a race. I’m really happy with it.”
Cancel added that he was content with being last early with the sharp fractions.
“He’s a horse that kicks on late, but at the same time I wanted them to come back a little bit at me,” Cancel said. “I knew they were going quick, and I know that he accelerates really good from the quarter-pole to the wire. He did his thing; he just couldn’t get there in time.”
Bred in Ontario by Murray Graham Smith, My Boy Prince, out of the stakes-winning Silent Name mare Hopping Not Hoping, banked $82,500 in victory while improving his record to 15-7-3-1 and returning $17.60 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a 10-race program that includes the Listed License Fee [Race 3], Grade 3 Vagrancy [Race 7], Grade 3 Beaugay [Race 8], and Grade 3 Westchester [Race 9]. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
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