Fan favourite Lexie Lou, Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2014, made every pole a winning one in Saturday’s $125,000 Victoriana Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Mark Casse for owner Gary Barber, Lexie Lou found her way to the front under jockey Patrick Husbands and cruised through splits of :23.99, :47.63 and 1:11.96 with recent Zadracarta Stakes winner Internal Bourbon with a nose to her tail.
Lexie Lou, in hand, came under pressure from Internal Bourbon as the field straightened for the stretch run but, with slight urging from Husbands, the five-year-old champion bay mare opened up to win by a length and galloped out strong. Internal Bourbon stayed on for second money, 2 1/2-lengths in front of Shesanaturalblonde. Lexie Lou covered 1 1/16-miles in 1:41.05.
Husbands was all smiles following Lexie Lou’s fourth win from five attempts over the world-famous E.P. Taylor Turf Course.
“Everyone knows she’s a real champion and she’s tough. She has such a high cruising speed and you can’t fight with her,” said Husbands. “That horse (Internal Bourbon) came to her and I said ‘Come on baby, let’s go’ and she just took off. After the race, the outrider had to pull her up for me. She’s just a racehorse.”
Lexie Lou was dominant in her three-year-old campaign in which she earned Sovereign Award honours as Horse of the Year, champion grass mare and champion three-year-old filly.
A sparkling win in the Woodbine Oaks, presented by Budweiser, was chased with a Queen’s Plate romp over the boys. Following a victory in the grassy Wonder Where Stakes, third leg of the filly Triple Tiara, Lexie Lou then shipped to California where she won the Grade 3 Autumn Miss at Santa Anita and finished second to Kentucky Derby champ California Chrome in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.
Since coming home to Woodbine in 2016, Lexie Lou has already won the Grade 2 Nassau and Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes.
Lexie Lou, bred in Ontario by Paradox Farm, banked $75,000 in victory while improving her record to 10-4-4 from 24 starts.
She paid $2.70, $2.10 and $2.10, combining with Internal Bourbon ($3.20, $2.50) for a $6.40 (1-4) exactor. A 1-4-6 triactor (Shesanaturalblonde, $5.30 to show) was worth $53.10, while a $1 Superfecta [1-4-6-3 (Conquest Strate Up)] came back $46.15.
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