Champions Lexie Lou, Strut the Course clash in optional claimer
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – On a rare Saturday at Woodbine without a stakes, the champions Lexie Lou and Strut the Course will clash in a third-level $80,000 optional claimer. Both are eligible for the 1 1/16-mile route because the conditions allow for non-winners of a race since Oct. 30 to compete.
Lexie Lou was the Canadian Horse of the Year in 2014, when she beat the boys in the Queen’s Plate after capturing the Woodbine Oaks. She also took the Wonder Where Stakes on the grass and ran second to California Chrome in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.
Lexie Lou has been campaigned sporadically over the past year and a half. She rallied wide for third following a one-year break in a Jan. 13 optional claimer at Tampa Bay Downs, where she also finished sixth behind the unstoppable champion Tepin in the Grade 3 Endeavour in her last start Feb. 13.
Strut the Course was Canada’s champion older female in 2014, during which she took the Grade 3 Maple Leaf Stakes with authority. Even though she won two Grade 2 turf stakes last year, the Canadian and Dance Smartly, she narrowly lost out in the Sovereign Award voting for champion turf female to the Horse of the Year, the 2-year-old Catch a Glimpse.
The headliner is the eighth on a solid 10-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Lexie Lou, by Sligo Bay
Last 3 Beyers: 82-85-85
◗ After working twice on the grass at Palm Meadows in March, she had a solo half-mile breeze in 47.60 seconds on the Tapeta here April 22. Patrick Husbands, her regular rider in 2014, has the mount for trainer Mark Casse.
Strut the Course, by Strut the Stage
Last 3 Beyers: 85-98-97
◗ The durable 6-year-old wintered in South Carolina before posting a series of fast drills with some salty company on the Tapeta here this spring. Luis Contreras will ride her again for trainer Barb Minshall, who owns a 9 percent strike rate with 61-to-180-day comebackers over the last five years, according to DRF Formulator.
Moon Rainbow, by Smart Strike
Last 3 Beyers: 85-76-85
◗ The 4-year-old has been idle since Nov. 13, when she crushed second-level allowance opposition, a month after finishing a lapped-on second in the restricted Carotene Stakes on turf. She has worked thrice here on the Tapeta since returning from a winter sojourn at Palm Meadows.
Clarkston Hope, by Strut the Stage
Last 3 Beyers: 70-86-65
◗ The need-the-lead type could make most of the running in her first start of the year.