Duke of Love

Ontario-bred Duke of Love won his career debut in November 2021 at Woodbine, taking a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight race on the synthetic-surface main track by two lengths. He finished fifth in his final start at 2 and his stakes debut competing in a turf race at Gulfstream Park, but then shipped back to Woodbine for five consecutive starts on the synthetic Tapeta track, winning the first of those and then competing in four consecutive stakes races with his best finish a second in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes.

After finishing a nonthreatening eight in the first race of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, trainer Josie Carroll tried Duke of Love on dirt in the next leg of that series, the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie. The Cupid colt relished the sloppy main track and won the Prince of Wales by three quarters of a length. He finished a well-beaten seventh on turf in the final Canadian Triple Crown race, the Breeders Stakes.

In 2023, Duke of Love made his first two starts on Woodbine’s Tapeta track and finished sixth in an allowance optional claiming race and then seventh in the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes. He was then shipped to Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino for another try on a dirt surface, and once again reponsed, gamely defeating Surly Furious by three quarters of a length in the Grade 3 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes on Aug. 6.