NO CIGAR ... BUT ANOTHER GAME EFFORT BY PRINCE LEVI

By Graham Potter | Saturday, March 28, 2026

At this stage of his career, Prince Levi is consistency personified.

The William Kropp trained four-year-old did not win his latest assignment in an Open Handicap over 2000m at Doomben on March 28, but he once again exemplified all of the attributes connections are looking for in a racehorse, namely for him to always strive to perform at least close to his best and to do that with a fighting spirit which ensures that, if he is beaten, he goes down fighting.

That is exactly what he did at Doomben, as he has done in all of the six races he has contested in 2026. Six races … two wins … three second places and one third place finish is a pretty proud record.

The wins speak for themselves, and the three runner-up finishes were also notable enough given that Prince Levi never finished more than 1.50 lengths behind the winner on each of these occasions.

In this latest test at Doomben, the Kropp team did not shy away from tackling some top stables.

Tony Gollan had the $2.45 favourite Brindavan. Annabel and Rob Archibald sent out the second favourite Akkadian Emperor ($3.40) with Ciaron Maher throwing Glory Days into battle at $9. Chris Waller had Tajanis engaged, albeit at unwanted odds of $81.

As it turned out, Prince Levi, who started on the third line of betting at $4.80, comfortably beat all of those big-name stable runners home, but, unfortunately for his cause, he caught the Peter and Will Hulbert trained Zoology, a $26 outsider, in a galloping mood under the 2kg claiming apprentice Chelsea Baker.

That riding claim gave Zoology a 2kg advantage at the weights with Prince Levi which arguably made the difference … or at least contributed … to Prince Levi going down to Zoology by 0.94 lengths.

Mark Du Plessis, who has built up such a great rapport with Prince Levi having ridden the son of Casino Prince in all of his last seven starts, again gave the Kropp trained runner a flawless ride.

It was neither the fault of horse nor rider that they found one better on the day.

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