Trainer Norm Dunstan was delighted with the draw in the three-year-old trotting colt Super Final
. His homebred gelding Lexis Noah heads into the race off two straight Gold Final wins and will make a bid for the division title from Post 5.
“I love a five-hole; anything from a three to a five is nice,” says Dunstan. “Text Me, one heck of a nice horse, drew the eight. That is a little handicap, but he can overcome that.”
Text Me sits atop the division point standings with three Gold Elimination and two Gold Final wins. The Kadabra son was no worse than fourth in Gold Series action this summer, and did not miss an event.
Unlike his rival, it took Lexis Noah four tries to make a Gold Final, but since the Malabar Maple son figured things out he has been outstanding. Off a third-place finish in elimination action at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 27 the gelding delivered a 1:55.3 victory in the Oct. 4 Gold Final. He then finished second to Text Me in their Oct. 26 elimination at Kawartha Downs, but turned the tables on the division leader in the Gold Final one week later.
“Mike Saftic said to me that we had done a good job with him, and that means a lot, when somebody else says it,” notes Dunstan. “We kind of protected him and babied him along.
“It is a great pleasure when you take your own baby and create a good racehorse out of him,” adds the horseman, who bred and raised Lexis Noah at his Caledon Village farm.
Through 20 starts this season Lexis Noah has amassed a record of seven wins, four seconds and two thirds for earnings of $208,760, and Dunstan says the gelding will have his game face ready when Moffat, ON resident Jack Moiseyev rolls him in behind the starting gate in Race 9.
“He’s a really nice horse. He’s a pleasure to have in the barn. If I had a barn full of them I’d be a happy boy,” says Dunstan. “He’s a little aggressive when he goes to the track, but he’s not a runaway horse. He puts his game face on when gets to the track.”
Woodbine Racetrack will send the first race in behind the starting gate at 7:30 pm on Saturday, and spotlight the best of the Ontario Sires Stakes program in Races 3 through 10.
All eight of Saturday evening’s $300,000 finals will be aired during a special three-hour special on The Score. The show kicks off at 8:00 p.m and airs until 11 p.m. WEG will also be offering a $50,000 guaranteed pool for Saturday's early Pick-4 wager in addition to offering Superfecta wagering on all of Saturday's races.
To download a program for Saturday's card, click here. To view Saturday's entries, click here.
(OSS)