ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Ron Sadler has had a memorable Woodbine meet, winning several allowances with the speedy Souped Up and sending out the popular 10-year-old Northern Ruby to win her swan song last week before heading off to the breeding shed. Sadler could win Sunday’s closing-day feature, the $100,000 Steady Growth Stakes, with his aptly named stable star Ron’s Gizmo. Sadler was the original trainer of the 7-year-old son of Giant Gizmo, who has banked nearly $300,000 over the past two years. “I had him as a 3-year-old, when he was a giant just growing into himself,” Sadler recalled. “We knew long was going to be his thing. He went elsewhere for his 4-year-old year, and then we claimed him at the end of his 5-year-old year.” :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Ron’s Gizmo was never better than in September, when he lost the Grade 3 Durham Cup by a head to the crack 3-year-old Dresden Row after blowing away tough conditioned allowance company. The gelding was a flat fifth most recently in a 1 3/8-mile conditioned allowance around three turns on the inner turf, which wasn’t his preferred trip. “It was a little too far, and he really doesn’t appreciate that course,” Sadler explained. “The turns are too tight for him to be comfortable. He’s over 17 hands. He’s a huge animal. He wound up a respectable fifth.” Sadler has been pointing Ron’s Gizmo to the 1 1/16-mile Steady Growth, in which he was beaten just three-quarters of a length in 2023. Rafael Hernandez rides him for owners Linda Theil and Harri Hosein and was aboard for a recent work. “We were third in it last year and he’s training well,” Sadler pointed out. Secret Reserve won the 2023 Steady Growth in a thriller over a charging Grandson. The Giant Gizmo gelding has gone winless in eight starts this year while keeping some tough company, which included a third on turf behind Filo Di Arianna and War Bomber in the Grade 2 King Edward. Secret Reserve was a belated fifth most recently in a seven-furlong conditioned allowance, the same type of performance he posted leading up to last year’s Steady Growth. Eswan Flores replaces the suspended Leo Salles on the Mike Mattine-trained Secret Reserve, a three-time stakes winner. Others contenders in the nine-horse field of Ontario-sired runners include Rapid Test and Lac Macaza. Victorious in the 2023 Elgin Stakes, Rapid Test cleared the second allowance condition at 58-1 in August. Trainer Catherine Day Phillips sent him out to finish a closing second most recently in a seven-furlong conditioned allowance. Lac Macaza took the Sept. 7 Niagara Stakes and has been idle since a sagging sixth Oct. 5 in the Grade 3 Singspiel, another longer turf route. The 1 1/16-mile distance on the Tapeta has been a successful trip for the son of Giant Gizmo. Post time for the expanded 13-race card is 1:10 p.m. and the nightcap is scheduled for 7:17 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.