REXDALE, ON — He bred her, raised her and taught her everything she knows about racing, but Gaetan Hebert says that three-year-old pacing filly Lady Dillinger can still surprise him.

“She surprises me all the time. I don’t know where she get gets it from,” says the Waterdown resident about the filly’s ability and desire to win. “It’s got to be from her mother.”

Lady Dillinger heads into Saturday’s $300,000 Super Final as the reigning Gold Final champ, the division point leader and riding a seven race unbeaten streak in Ontario Sires Stakes company. She also boasts a third-place finish in the Fan Hanover Final at Mohawk Racetrack in late August and a win in the Fillies and Mares Preferred class at Mohawk on Oct. 7.

After cruising home a four and a half length winner in the Oct. 31 Gold Final, clocking a personal best 1:52, the D M Dilinger daughter enjoyed three days of rest before resuming her training regimen. In preparation for Saturday’s battle Hebert had his veterinarian check the filly over carefully and has been keeping her away from the yearlings that have recently moved into his barn.

“I had her checked out by the vet, and everything came back good,” says the former blacksmith. “I’ll train her (Thursday) and that’s it.”

Lady Dillinger and driver Mike Saftic will start from Post 6 in Saturday’s eighth race and Hebert says he will be keeping an eye on the filly’s long time rival Lucks Mistress from Post 1. Lucks Mistress, who finished second in the division standings behind Lady Dilinger last season, was acquired out of the Nov. 5 Fall Extravaganza Sale by Black Horse Racing of Lebanon, NJ and Perretti Racing Stable LLC of Cream Ridge, NJ and moved into the William Elliott stable.

“I like Post 6, I wouldn’t want the rail, let’s put it that way,” says Hebert. “It will be interesting to see how Lucks Mistress does with Bill Elliott.”

While Hebert spends the next two days preparing Lady Dillinger for her bid for a second Super Final title, trainer Randy Fritz is simply hoping that Whatthehecklavec will have an opportunity to start in her first season finale. The three-year-old trotting filly has been battling sickness since her Nov. 4 Flamboro Breeders victory and Fritz says a veterinary evaluation at the end of the week will be the deciding factor.

“Right now she’s a little under the weather, we are just trying to get her healthy,” says the Carlisle resident, who shares ownership on the filly with breeders Jennifer and Gwendowyn Unger of Caledon. “If she’s right, she’ll be there.”

Whatthehecklavec leads the sophomore trotting filly standings with 200 points earned from three Gold Elimination wins and a pair of second-place finishes in Gold Final action. She finished a disappointing sixth in the last Gold Final at Flamboro Downs on Oct. 28, but Fritz says that result was not the Mr. Lavec daughter’s fault, pointing to the win she posted at Flamboro one week later.

“She came back to form (for the Flamboro Breeders). Like all good ones, they bounce back after a bad drive,” says the trainer-driver, with a self deprecating chuckle. “I took a lot of flack on that one.”

If she gets a thumbs up from the veterinarian, Whatthehecklavec will start from Post 7 in the seventh race on Saturday and Fritz is hoping for a significantly better tour around the Woodbine oval than the one he engineered at Flamboro.

“I’d like to be able to trip her out in that race, sit in behind one that will tow her there,” he explains. “On the front end she gets beat up easy. I’d love to have the golden trip.”

Woodbine Racetrack sends its first race behind the starting gate at 7:40 pm on Saturday, with the Ontario Sires Stakes’ $2.4 million on the line in Races 3 through 10. The three-year-old trotting fillies and pacing fillies will battle for their share of the lucre in Races 7 and 8.

For complete Super Final entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ewdbssa.html