by Greg Blanchard, WEG media

Toronto, ON — Dali served notice to his older pacing counterparts that he will be a force to be reckoned with this season after a sparkling 1:49.3 victory in the C$90,000 Spring Pacing Championship final on Saturday night (April 10) at Woodbine Racetrack.

The clocking equaled the stakes record for the event which was first established by Whosurboy back in 2005 and later matched by Tigerama in 2008.

New Image Media photo

Dali’s 1:49.3 score equaled the stakes record.

In Saturday’s contest, Dali blasted out for early command from post six before yielding the lead briefly to Sixdaysontheroad through a first panel of :26.3. Driver Luc Ouellette wasted no time in taking Dali back to the top in the second quarter as he took over just before the half in :55.

Annieswesterncard was the first to move, coming out of fourth at that point. As Dali began to sprint in the third quarter, a hole developed in front of a gapping Sixdaysontheroad and Annieswesterncard (driven by Jack Moiseyev) was able to move back down to the pylons and follow the pacesetter through three-quarters in 1:22.2.

The pocket sitter came out to challenge in the stretch but lost ground to Dali who was overpowering in the win. Annieswesterncard did hold the place spot with Keystone Horatio rounding out the top three. Dali returned $3.40 as the solid top choice in the wagering.

“Last week, he (Dali) was just getting tight and this week he was even better,” said Ouellette, who also won the Youthful Series final on Friday night at Woodbine. “He’s an older horse now who’s gone some hard miles in his career. Rene (Allard-the trainer) and Aaron Waxman (co-owner) have done a real nice job of managing the horse this past year.

“He’s going to get a few weeks off now and I imagine he’ll only race a limited number of starts to make sure he’s as good as he can be all year. It’s amazing to think as many times as this horse has battled health issues to think he is still this good. He has a big heart.”

Saturday’s win was the fourth this season and 18th lifetime for the 5-year-old son of Real Artist-Armbro Tea and bumped his career earnings to just over C$1,325,000 for Waxman who co-owns along with the VIP Internet Stable LLC of New Jersey.