Lexie Lou retired, will be entered in Keeneland sale
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Lexie Lou, Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2014, has been retired and will be entered in the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, trainer Mark Casse said.
Casse said his longtime Woodbine assistant, David Adams, had noticed that Lexie Lou was not exhibiting her normal behavior after winning the Victoriana Stakes on July 30.
“We know her pretty well,” Casse said. “Nobody knows her like David. Even if I thought she was going good and David told me she wasn’t herself, I would defer to David. David just said she wasn’t herself. She’s accomplished too much to push it.”
Casse and owner Gary Barber purchased Lexie Lou privately from trainer John Ross after her fourth-place finish in the Star Shoot Stakes in April 2014. From there, Lexie Lou went on to complete the Woodbine Oaks and Queen’s Plate double, giving Casse his first Queen’s Plate win.
“I would put her Queen’s Plate victory up there with our Breeders’ Cup wins and with Royal Ascot,” he said. “I’ll never forget [track announcer] Dan Loiselle and his call of Lexie Lou and what it meant to us.”
Lexie Lou retires with 10 wins from 24 starts and earnings of more than $1.9 million. Nine of her wins came in stakes races, including graded stakes wins in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly, the Grade 2 Nassau, and the Grade 3 Autumn Miss. She also ran second to California Chrome in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in November 2014.
“She owes us nothing,” Casse said. “She’s a great filly. I was reflecting upon her today and thinking she’s probably one of the best horses I’ve ever trained. Not too many horses can do what she did in overcoming a year layoff. She could run on the turf, she could run on the synthetic, and the one time I ran her on the dirt, she ran pretty good. She’s just a remarkable filly that I’ll always remember.”