Chiefswood Stable homebred Heathcote made every pole a winning one to capture Sunday’s Grade 3, $177,700 Valedictory Stakes, the final stakes event of Woodbine’s 2012 thoroughbred season.
The son of Niigon, trained by Paul Attard and ridden expertly by Emma-Jayne Wilson, put away Quaesitor at the top of the lane and galloped home a 12 1/4-length winner over Peyton to take the 1 3/4-mile marathon.
Heathcote notched three-quarters of a mile in 1:16.16, as the five-year-old gelding passed the wire for the first time with Quaesitor on his tail. Wilson, and Heathcote, maintained a narrow lead over Quaesitor the length of the backstretch, with the rest of the nine-horse field well in arrears.
