REXDALE, ON — Astronomical may be handicapped by Post 9 in Saturday’s three-year-old pacing colt Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack, but Dr. Ian Moore is not losing any sleep worrying about the last race of the season.

“Regardless of what happens (Saturday) night, it’s been a wonderful year for us,” says Moore. “I am proud of the horse and I am glad to be here.”

Through 24 starts this season Astronomical has posted 10 wins, three seconds and one third for earnings of $402,035. Among the Astreos son’s accomplishments are two Gold Final wins, three Gold Elimination victories, wins in divisions of the Jug Preview and Flamboro Breeders Stakes and a runner-up finish in his Confederation Cup Elimination to eventual winner American Ideal.

The colt heads into Saturday’s $300,000 season finale off a sixth-place finish in a Nov. 5 overnight at Woodbine, displaying the kind of grit against a field of older horses that was missing in a disappointing sixth-place effort in the Oct. 29 Gold Final at the Rexdale oval.

Heading into the last Gold event Astronomical had been battling a lung infection and days before the Final he suffered an episode of tying up, something the colt has dealt with off and on since his freshman season. Moore felt the pacer had recovered enough to compete, but Astronomical failed to deliver his usual finishing kick.

“No excuses. If he wasn’t right I shouldn’t have raced him,” notes Moore, a veterinarian at the Atlantic Veterinary College in PEI who calls Campbellville home when he is in Ontario. “Last week I thought he raced well enough, he was just in with some tough aged horses.”

Moore opted for a light conditioning schedule this week; no training, just jogging the colt six miles each day and giving him some time in the paddock, and the strategy seems to be paying off.

“It seems like this week everything is resolved,” says the horseman. “His muscle count is good.”

Mark MacDonald will pilot Astronomical on Saturday for Moore and his partners William Shearer of Bedford, NS and R G McGroup Ltd. of Bathurst, NB, and the trainer expects to see the pair in the hunt early.

“I think he’s in the same boat as everyone else. They have all had a long, tough season and a looking for a little rest,” notes Moore, who will be starting for home on Sunday. “But everybody will be driving differently when they are going for that much money, so he’ll probably have to be up near the front. Hopefully he can get away and get a good spot.”

While Moore is heading into Saturday’s lucrative Super Final satisfied with his colt’s sophomore campaign, trainer Mark Harder would love to see Northern Ensign pick up a big cheque to make for the ones that got away.

“He’s disappointed us a few times when the big money was on the line,” says the trainer, who makes his base in Greensville when he is racing in Ontario. “So we just hope for the best on Saturday.”

Through 16 starts this season the Angus Hall son has a record of four wins and five seconds for earnings of $180,598. He captured the first Gold Final in May and looked poised for a tremendous year, but has struggled to find his feet ever since. In his only other Gold Series start he made a break and finished ninth. Second in his July 30 Hambletonian elimination at The Meadowlands, he finished ninth in the Final and then had similar luck in the Canadian Trotting Classic at Mohawk Racetrack in September, winning the elimination and finishing last in the Final.

“In the Hambletonian he just picked a day to have a real bad day. He didn’t come out of the race very well,” recalls the trainer. “Then in the Canadian Trotting Classic he got a little hot behind the gate and made a break. It was just bad timing.

“He’s a trotter that’s had his good days and his bad days, but he’s been okay. He’s had his good days, and a lot of people never get that,” adds Harder, who owns Northern Ensign with John Fielding of Toronto, Bryan Montgomery of Hightstown, NJ and Arden Homestead Stable of Delhi, NY.

Rick Zeron will pilot Northern Ensign from Post 2 in the ninth race on Saturday and Harder hopes a few changes made in recent days will work in their favour in the season finale.

“He qualified last Tuesday and then came back and Rick schooled him this Tuesday,” says Harder. “I wasn’t happy with the last qualifier, but we did some work on him and this Tuesday Rick said he was much better.”

Woodbine Racetrack fans will catch Northern Ensign and Astronomical in the last two of eight $300,000 Super Finals at Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday. The Rexdale oval’s first race goes behind the gate at 7:40 pm and the Ontario Sires Stakes stars take control of the evening’s festivities in Races 3 through 10.

For complete Super Final entries please go to:

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