Few racing fans had heard of Gotcha Covered before the start of December, but after some surgery and a dramatic last-to-first racing style, many eyes will be on the three-year-old when he makes his next start in Saturday's $60,000 final of the Valedictory Pacing Series at Woodbine

Racetrack.

Gotcha Covered, the 5-2 morning-line favourite in the field of 10, is trained by Randy Van Meer for Oshawa, Ont.'s Harry Locke, who owns 75 per cent of the horse and Stouffville, Ont.'s Daniel Sarafian, who owns 25 per cent.

While he will be well-backed in the final, which goes as the eighth race (3:40 p.m.) on the afternoon Boxing Day card, much of the New Jersey bred's past performance card is admittedly modest. Until December 7, he had two wins in 13 career starts.

Since then, the Western Ideal gelding has three straight impressive victories, including divisions of both of the series' preliminary legs on December 12 and 19.

Van Meer, who owns a 22-acre, 23-stall farm near Bowmanville, Ont., pointed to throat surgery in mid-September as the reason for the bay's outstanding improvement in form.

"He won a couple of races (in the summer), but he had problems breathing and it got worse," Van Meer said. "Every time I had him scoped, it never showed anything. We took him to the vet, they put him on a treadmill and it showed where he was flipping his palate. So they did the surgery the next day, I gave him two months off, brought him back and he's been great ever since."

Gotcha Covered qualified in 1:56.1 on November 26 and Van Meer knew his horse was ready to return to the races. "Paul (regular driver Paul MacDonell) drove him in the qualifier and said he was a different horse. In his first start (a nose tally on December 7, 1:53.2), we took him to the back and everything just worked out right for him. He then won the two legs of the stakes race the same way."

Expect similar tactics and form in the Valedictory final, but Van Meer hopes it doesn't end there. "He's a nice horse, but he has to keep getting better, we have him going to the Willowdale (starts on January 9) and then the Cam Fella (starts on March 6) (stakes series). This is a good horse. Hopefully he lives up to what they expect from him."

The Valedictory, first run in 1964, boasts an impressive winner's ledger that includes Cam Fella and Ramegade Bruiser.

Special first-race post time on Boxing Day Saturday is 1:20 p.m.

Field for the $60,000 Valedictory final
PP/Horse/Driver/Trainer/M-L
1/React Ingoodway/Jason Brewer/Donald Eash/15-1
2/Sombrero Blue Chip/Randall Waples/Rene Laarman/8-1
3/Blackbird Singing/Jack Moiseyev/Louie Eftimiadis/4-1
4/D I Hanover/Phil Hudon/Randy Van Meer/10-1
5/Gotcha Covered/Paul MacDonell/Randy Van Meer/5-2
6/Stonebridge Deputy/Mario Baillargeon/Sue Marie Gangell/5-1
7/Auditorial/Jody Jamieson/David Menary/7-1
8/Onemorelastchance/Sylvain Filion/Greg Horn/8-1
9/Hilarious Halo/Luc Ouellette/Brad Shakes/15-1
10/Mcartlee/Mark Macdonald/Victor Puddy/9-2
AE/Mizter Fastforward/Luc Ouellette/James Ainsworth/15-1

To view all the harness racing entries for Woodbine's Boxing Day card, click here.

(WEG)