Canadian Triple Crown Hero
The Canadian Triple Crown was only officially being recognized in 1959, thus a horse named Queensway that captured all three races in 1932 did not have her name added to the list of Canadian Triple Crown winners. Since 1959, only seven horses have won the Canadian Triple Crown, which is made up of the Queen’s Plate, The Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeder’s stakes. On Sunday, 7 August 2011, another name missed the list of winners by one race, namely Pender Harbour. His jockey, however, will join the others in the history books of the Canadian Triple Crown.
What makes the Canadian Triple Crown different from the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing which is held in the United States of America, is the fact that it is run on three different surfaces, with the Queen’s Plate being the first leg run on the Woodbine Racetrack in Ontario’s Polytrack, followed by the Fort Erie Racecourse’s dirt track hosting the Prince of Wales Stakes, and the turf track of the E.P. Taylor Turf Course being host to the Breeder’s Stakes. All the races are open to geldings, where some countries do not allow geldings to participate in their Triple Crown events.
Even though Pender Harbour won the Breeder’s Stakes and the Prince of Wales by mere inches, he still managed to get the job done and his jockey became the next Canadian Triple Crown winner. Pender Harbour is owned by Bob Giffen, Roberta Giffen, Sandra Lazaruk and Denny Andrews. Everyone connected to Pender Harbour are extremely proud of his achievements, and after finishing third in the Queen’s Plate, he bounced back wonderfully under the guidance of jockey Luis Contreras.
Luis Contreras took his Canadian Triple Crown victory riding the Queen’s Plate winner Inglorious in the first leg, and then enjoying two more victories on Pender Harbour. For a horse that was bought for a mere $15 783, Pender Harbour has most certainly proved that he has talent and determination. He missed a lot of training time due to the fact that needed to recuperate from a bone chip operation, and after coming back with these spectacular performances, Bob Giffen commented that they were very proud of Pender Harbour and he will now be heading for a long and well deserved rest.
