The William Kropp trained Prince Levi is in line to give his young trainer an important black-type victory when he steps out in the Listed Ipswich Cup over 2150m on Saturday.
That 2150m race distance is a positive point of focus for the son of Casino Prince.
Prince Levi’s two results to date in this preparation … in the Listed Bernborough Handicap over 1600m and the Group 3 Lord Mayor’s Cup over 1800m … were fair enough, but you find the real meat on the bone if you go one step further back to Prince Levi’s previous preparation and, in particular, the six successive starts Prince Levi had before taking a two month break.
He recorded a fine run of results there … finishing third, second, first, second, first and second … with all of those races being contested over either 2000m (twice), 2050m and 2200m (three times) … all falling within Prince Levi’s ideal comfort zone.
In that preparation Prince Levi also had three earlier starts … once over 1600m and twice over 1800m … those runs being a natural, measured buildup before stepping up to the 2000m … and that formula has again been put in play this time around with Prince Levi being given a 1600m and then an 1800m lead-in to the Ipswich Cup.
Third-up, now over a preferred distance and with regular jockey Mark Du Plessis in the saddle are all positives. Du Plessis knows the Kropp runner so well, having piloted Prince Levi in all of his last nine starts dating back to December 2025 … including in his last two wins.
“The 1600 and the 1800m were almost underdoing it … he could have stepped right up to the eleven furlongs right away,” offered Kropp. “His first-up run was really good and, like a lot of horses, his second-up run might have got to him a little bit … but the lead-up has all gone well.
“Mark (Du Plessis) knows the horse well. He is a pretty straight-forward horse to ride these days. They’ve got a good relationship with each other, and we’ve got a good relationship with Mark. It’s too easy. We’ll stick with that.
“He’s won on the soft … he was back in company a fair bit, but he carried weight and he did that well, so soft going doesn’t worry me. As long as it is not a seriously heavy track … or a seriously rock hard track … he’ll be fine.”
Sun Worshipper, who won the Shoot Out Quality back in January and who is trained by Matt Kropp (William Kropp’s father), will be amongst those challenging Prince Levi on Saturday.
“Yeah, we seem to bump into each other a bit, but that’s alright,” said William Kropp.
“There’s a bit of rivalry between us, but it’s all in good sport. We both there to give our horse the best go … and, hopefully, one of us can come home with a good result, if not both of us.” (The two Kropp racing stables have already saddled a quinella at Ipswich, doing that when Our Brave Lini beat Cryption’s Desire home in a race on May 9.)
William Kropp, who has fifteen horses in work and is “always looking for more” … is moving along in impressive fashion. Eleven of his last fifty runners have come back as winners (that’s a healthy twenty-two percent winning strike-rate).
The stable has also proved to be a value option on several occasions producing winners at double figure odds … which might be the case again on Saturday if Prince Levi does take out the Ipswich Cup.
He is currently quoted at $12 according to leading Aussie betting sites.
