PRINCE LEVI, FRESH FROM SETTING A NEW TRACK RECORD, LOOKING FOR BACK-TO-BACK WINS

By Graham Potter | Thursday, February 19, 2026

The Willaim Kropp trained Prince Levi, the track record holder for the Doomben 2000m, will face the starter in a BM80 Handicap over 2200m at Doomben on Saturday, two weeks after lowering Antino’s track record when trouncing his field over the 200m shorter trip.

The 2200m distance is not unfamiliar territory for Prince Levi. He tackled 2200m in the two starts immediately prior to his record breaking run, finishing in third place (at Doomben) and in second place (at the Sunshine Coast) … certainly good enough momentum building runs which essentially formed the springboard into his latest success, so there is every reason to suggest that he could go on with it on Saturday.

Prince Levi currently tops the betting market at $3.90, but it is an open betting race with Enterprise Private and Akkadian Emperor close on the favourite’s heels at $4.40 and $4.60 respectively.

Mark Du Plessis, who has been in the saddle in Prince Levi’s last four starts again takes the ride.

While horses do not know what their purchase price was, the owners balance sheet between investment and return is an ever present statistic. Some will look fondly on those figures. Others would prefer not to see them … and then there is the small group who can celebrate a real bargain buy, whatever way you look at it.

The owner of Prince Levi, who has earned prize-money totalling $198 150 from his seventeen career starts (three wins and six placings) falls into the latter category.

“Not a bad outcome after buying his mum in foal with him for $2000,” was owner Kate Kropp’s response on the day that Miss Levi lowered the track record and put another $48 800 in the bank.

She also did say at the time though that Prince Levi has been a ‘project’ and she was happy to expand on that when approached this week.

“He is a very busy horse,” explained Kropp. “If you watch him in the enclosure, he is jig-jogging all the time … and that is just what he is like … all of the time!

“He cops a lot of work, but he just loves it. There is no other way to put it other than he just loves to be busy.

“And his mother is exactly the same. She just jig-jogs around the paddock. She is a lovely mare and she does the same thing.

“So yeah, he has been a project all right. I think he has thrown a few jockeys. He is just so excited. He is just excited about life … he is excited about everything, even racing doesn’t worry him.”

With another Queensland Winter Carnival on the horizon, Saturday’s result could go a long way towards helping raise Prince Levi’s rating to a point where he would get the opportunity to show his worth on a bigger stage.

Last season he was earmarked for a run in the Queensland Derby, but he dropped his rider and fell in the leadup to that race, necessitating some time out, which in turn forced a change of plan.

Prince Levi had run in the Group 3 Rough Habit prior to that incident, and he did come back to round off his three-year-old season with another two Carnival runs in Group 3 company … in the Gunsynd and the Winx Guineas.

He finished unplaced in all three of those Group 3 starts.

Now his four-year-old campaign, which only kicked off four months into the current season after a lengthy break away from race action, is now unfolding with some fluency.

We will know more about what lies in store for Prince Levi after Saturday but, right now … perhaps without getting as excited as Prince Levi himself … it is fair to say he is tracking well.

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