Duke of Love was entered today for the allowance going 1 1/16 miles on Saturday, but unfortunately the race did not yield enough entrants to be carded, nor was it brought back on Saturday’s overnight. So, we will be going with plan B and entering in Saturday’s Grade 3 Marine Stakes. Trainer Josie Carroll was disappointed that the allowance didn’t go, but said the Marine was looking a bit light when she last talked to the racing office today. We will follow up tomorrow after entries are taken.
Duke of Love has been nominated to the Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine on July 2nd. The Marine Stakes, which is run at 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta, fits into Josie Carroll’s plan of stretching the Duke out. In addition, Josie has also circled an allowance race on July 1st at the same distance as another option if the stake looks to be extremely tough. Josie said that we should expect to see the Duke breeze towards the end of this week, most likely Thursday or Friday.
Duke of Love exited Sunday’s Queenston Stakes in good order. He earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure, with the race winner The Minkster earning an 86 BSF (a number the Duke ran last time out). Josie Carroll mentioned getting the Duke around two turns prior to the Plate Trial and at the moment, there is just one race in the condition book that fits into that schedule. On July 1st, there is an allowance optional claiming race going 1 1/16 miles over the main Tapeta surface. We will be in touch with Josie over the next 7-10 days to check in on Duke of Love’s continued progression out of the race and see if any additional race options pop up
Duke of Love ran a very respectable fourth today in the $125,000 Queenston Stakes at Woodbine, finishing just 1 1/2 lengths behind a good-looking winner in The Minkster, who is now undefeated in three career starts. Not much separated the top four finishers at the wire in this salty seven-horse field.
Our colt, piloted by Justin Stein who was aboard for his two career wins, was perfectly placed in the early stages of the seven-furlong Tapeta race, just behind the early leaders, who rattled off fractions of 22.54 for the opening quarter mile and 45.16 for the half. Moving from fourth to third leaving the backstretch, Duke set his sights on The Minkster, who had the lead turning for home and posted a snappy six-furlong time of 1:08.49. The eventual winner would not give in, though, and Duke of Love didn’t quite punch on like he had in his previous wins, and in the final yards was passed late to lose out on third place.
Trainer Josie Carroll was not displeased with the effort, remarking Duke was beaten just 1 1/4 lengths for second. She noted he was a bit more tired after this race, but was happy to see improvement from him in correctly switching leads, which is an important step for the 3-year-old. She is considering adding a small shadow roll — a piece of equipment that partially restricts a horse’s vision, and helps them to concentrate on what is in front of them — to the noseband of his bridle next time because he is continuing to carry his head high. Depending upon what the Woodbine condition book offers, the trainer will consider a two-turn allowance race for the colt in advance of a start in the Plate Trial Stakes on July 24. It is Josie’s belief that Duke of Love will prove to be a better horse around two turns.
In the coming days we will report back with how Duke exited his race.
Duke of Love has been nominated to the seven-furlong, $125,000 Queenston Stakes, restricted to Ontario breds, on June 12th at Woodbine. If you’re interested in joining us for the day, please enter our paddock lottery here.
Duke of Love breezed five furlongs this morning at Woodbine on the inside of the stakes-placed colt Mason’s Gamble. The Josie Carroll-trained duo stopped the clock in 59.00 seconds, earning the bullet work of the morning. Josie had jockey Justin Stein aboard Duke of Love because he understands the horse extremely well. Josie would have liked to see a slower work — around 1:01 —but Justin told her that he had a snug hold on the 3-year-old colt and was doing his best to slow him down.
Josie was pleased to see that Duke didn’t come back overly tired, and didn’t drink an excessive amount of water, showing that the quick breeze didn’t take too much out of him. With this being Duke of Love’s final breeze for the Queenston Stakes, Josie will be giving him easy gallops leading up to the June 12th race. Entries will be taken one week from today.
The morning after Duke of Love’s last breeze, he had some filling in his left ankle. Trainer Josie Carroll had x-rays taken and they came back clean. After swelling went down after a few days, he was jogging sound and as of today there is no swelling or heat coming from the ankle. However, being that Duke of Love is a young horse and keeping the future in mind it has been decided to give Duke of Love a short break from training.
Duke of Love is scheduled to ship tomorrow to Woodford Farm in Ocala, FL to enjoy some downtime before returning to Josie’s string at Palm Meadows in about five to six weeks.
Duke of Love’s scheduled breeze was moved up a few days owing to Palm Meadows being closed on Saturday due to the Christmas holiday and the track being in terrific condition. Duke of Love worked this morning five furlongs on the inside of a fellow Josie Carroll trainee in 1:01.65. Josie was very pleased with the work as Duke of Love was able to pull away by about 2 lengths as the duo reached the wire. As of right now, a race has not been targeted, but Duke of Love was nominated to the $100,000 Dania Beach on January 1st. Nominations to the one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds can be viewed here.
Once a race has been targeted, we will report back.
Duke of Love had his first work this morning at Palm Meadows since his fifth place finish in the Pulpit Stakes two weeks ago. The plan for Duke of Love was to go a half mile in about 49-50 seconds, he completed his work in 49.45 seconds. His usual morning rider, Mel Pinto, owes her timing to a metronome that she wears in her ear to keep track of the pace. Josie Carroll was happy with the work saying “Our shedrow was underwater yesterday and the track isn’t completely dry, but he got over it just fine. The track was a bit slow this morning, but it didn’t seem to borrow the Duke. He scoped clean and is cooling out just fine”.
Josie is currently looking to run Duke of Love in an allowance race on the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream Park. The new condition book should be released soon and when a race is targeted, we will report back.
Duke of Love returned to the track for a jog this morning for the first time since his debut win on Sunday. Josie Carroll let us know she was happy to see that he was feeling “spunky”. After a few days of training, we will report back with potential winter plans for Duke of Love.