Prestidigitator captures his third Gold Final

Since his first tangle with Knows Nothing in the July 21 Canadian Breeders Championship Prestidigitator has not been able to achieve favoured status in the public eye, and Monday’s $130,000 Gold Final at Woodbine Racetrack was no different.

In the last regular season Gold Series event of their careers, Knows Nothing was once again sent off as the heavy favourite from Post 4 and Prestidigitator was assigned second choice status from Post 8. And as the three-year-old trotting colts gathered behind the Woodbine Racetrack starting gate it was quickly clear that both colts had brought their ‘A’ game to the regular season finale.

Division point leader Cold Certified left sharply from Post 2, but driver Jody Jamieson also had the pedal down on Knows Nothing and the favourites were on top well before the :27.3 quarter. Sylvain Filion and Prestidigitator powered away from the gate, but the pair did not find a spot on the rail and were forced to loiter on the outside through the sharp early fractions.

As the field straightened out in the backstretch Filion opted to roll up on the leader and Jamieson allowed the reigning Gold Final champions to take command heading by the :56.1 half. Knows Nothing’s breather was brief however, as Jamieson sent the colt back into the fray before the 1:25.2 three-quarters.

At the top of the stretch it appeared that Knows Nothing might be poised to add a Gold Final trophy to his collection, but the game Prestidigitator had plenty in reserve and battled all the way down the lane to a one and one-quarter length victory in 1:53.3. Knows Nothing settled for the runner-up spot in a second straight Gold Final and Cold Certified trotted along the rail into third to make it a sweep by sons of leading trotting sire Kadabra.

Keystone Orion and Amigo Ranger were seven lengths behind the leader in fourth and fifth.

Milton resident Filion crafted Prestidigitator’s third Gold Final victory for trainer Dustin Jones and owner Ecurie Synergie of Montreal, QC. The son of Kadabra and Shesa Priority has tallied five wins, one second and four thirds in 14 sophomore starts to add $349,565 to the $320,672 he earned last season.

Monday’s victory bumped Prestidigitator to the top of the three-year-old trotting colt standings with 235 points and he will lead the field into the Nov. 10 Super Final, looking for a repeat of the eight length victory he scored in 2011.

Woodbine Racetrack will host the 2012 Super Final event, welcoming the top 10 point earners from each two and three-year-old division to compete in their respective $300,000 contest on Nov. 10.

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