Contains by Character

Hello,

Is there a way to get the contains function to search by character? For instance:

Table sa_asset has a column named asset_desc which has a text index and several million rows.

A row has data 'Pipe, 36" transmission main 000012345'

We would like:

Select * from sa_asset where contains(asset_desc, '1234%') > 0 to return the row above,

or,

Select * from sa_asset where contains(asset_desc, 'mission%') > 0 to return it.

The performance of '%1234%' or instr are too slow.

Is there a way to have the performance of Contains with this functionality?

Mark