Dali was aggressively handled by driver Luc Ouellette in Saturday’s $50,000 Open Pace at Woodbine Racetrack, and the multi-talented pacer responded by turning in the nation’s fastest mile of the season
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The five-year-old son of Real Artist stopped the teletimer in 1:50.2 for the partnership of the Uncirculated Stable, VIP Internet Stable LLC and JL Benson Stables Inc.
Kindly Poet, who was an off-the-pace winner in last week’s edition of the Open Pace, shot to the front and had the field lined up behind him at the quarter pole in a 27-second clip. Shortly past that post, Ouellette angled Dali out of the three-hole and in a matter of strides they were in command of the pace.
Dali stepped through middle splits of :55.1 and 1:23.1 before turning on the jets over the final two furlongs en route to the 1:50.2 decision. The Rene Allard pupil held off race favourite Kindly Poet by just over a length. Cinderella Guy came first over and held on to finish third.
“If he comes out of this race good we’re going to race him in the Open and then get a couple of weeks off and then race two more Opens and get a month off,” co-owner Aaron Waxman (Uncirculated Stable) told Trot Insider. “He’s not going to get shut down completely, but we only want get about seven starts into him.
“He eligible to the Bettors Delight at Tioga, the Des Smith and the Graduate,” Waxman added when asked about the early stakes on the pacer’s dance card. “We’re going to try and protect him until then. Luc raced him a bit tougher tonight because he was locked in last week. Luc didn’t even pull the plugs on him tonight. We’re just trying keep him fresh before the stakes season.”
The triumph was the first of the season in two assignments for Dali, who is now a 15-time winner in his career. The lion’s share of the $50,000 purse increased his lifetime stash of cash to $1,225,303.
To view Saturday’s results,click here.