It was her return to the races after a glorious Queen’s Plate victory last month and Lexie Lou disappointed no one with a stunning three-length victory in Sunday’s $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes at Woodbine.
Lexie Lou, an Ontario-bred daughter of Sligo Bay, was ridden to her third straight win by Patrick Husbands for trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber.
Skylander Girl was second with Lapsang third.
But the 1 ¼-mile turf race was all about Lexie Lou. The bay filly was making her first start after a high-profile two-race tour de force which included the Woodbine Oaks in June and the Queen’s Plate, where she was a 1 ¼-length winner, last time out.
Casse elected to skip the Prince of Wales, second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, contested on dirt at Fort Erie, and run in the Wonder Where, third gem of Canada’s Triple Tiara series for fillies, with an eye to autumn time grass racing.
She proved with authority that she can compete on grass, sitting forwardly off the early pace of :25.29, :48.61 and 1:12.39, set by Skylander Girl. When Husbands asked her for run at the top of the stretch, she exploded with a sustained burst of speed that left rivals wanting in the stretch en route to the win in her turf debut in 2:00.90.
“When I worked her 12 days ago, I told Mark she’s a different horse on the turf,” Husbands said. “She’s probably 20 lengths better, but the only problem is I didn’t know how I was going to get her to shut off.”
Barber had an early inkling that she could run on turf.
“I saw her race against Zensational Bunny (in the Star Shoot) and she galloped out like a monster,” Barber said. “I said ‘Wow’. I watched it three or four times over, called Mark, who was at the sales, and told him this filly could move up on the turf. She’s bred for it, yet she’s doing so well on synthetics. She was worth (going after) and the rest is history.”
Lexie Lou now has earnings of $1,399,250 to go with six career stakes wins. She paid $2.90 to win.
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