ETOBICOKE, Ontario – As the career of the classy veteran Souper Success winds down, he looks like a player in Friday’s fifth race for $25,000 claimers at Woodbine. This is Souper Success’s fifth stint with trainer Mike De Paulo and his son, Joe, who owns and grooms the speedy 9-year-old. They sent him out to win the 2019 Woodstock Stakes in the gelding’s 3-year-old bow. The De Paulos have campaigned him for about half of his 63 starts and have won six races with him. Souper Success is a son of Souper Speedy, who was the leading sire in Ontario when he died in the summer of 2024. “My dad bought him for $13,000 from the first crop of Souper Speedy,” Joe De Paulo recalled. “He’s similar to me – very relaxed. He was my first stakes winner. He’s been really good to me.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. When trainer Marty Drexler dropped Souper Success down to $10,000 off a two-month layoff on Aug. 30, the younger De Paulo thought it was no-brainer go back in for his old buddy. “I did pretty good with him last year – made $20,000 or $30,000 off him while getting claimed back and forth,” De Paulo said. “For $10,000, I thought the horse was worth it, and if worse came to worst, I could retire him and he can get a good life. He won for $25,000 after I claimed him. [He] paid for the claim, and the rest was all profit. The plan is to run him one more time here after this, and the other option is to run him protected in starters two or three times at Gulfstream. If he doesn’t run good in the next two starts, I’ll just retire him.” Souper Success can be at his most effective on an uncontested lead. He softened up in a speed duel most recently when fourth as the favorite in another $25,000 claiming race. “I don’t think he got a chance to run his race then,” De Paulo said. Drexler sends out Souper Dormy and Priceless Will in the six-furlong Tapeta sprint. Souper Dormy has run erratically this year. After minor placings at Gulfstream in February and April, he led all the way in a $25,000 starter handicap here in May. He subsequently ran third and eighth against $32,000 claiming company. Priceless Will, another durable 8-year-old, is winless in seven starts this year. But the stretch-runner has filled out the exacta in 15 of 49 career starts, including in a Sept. 1 optional-claiming race. He was third in each of his last two outings for $25,000, most recently after mounting a wide bid over a rail-favoring track. Caught Speeding rode the rail when second ahead of Priceless Will after dueling up front with Souper Success on Oct. 19. He was previously victorious over $15,000 nonwinners of three when trainer Sarah Ritchie claimed him for owner Paul Cooper. Completing the lineup are Last American Exit, Highland Life, and Your Valentino. Post time is 4:30 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.