Brass in Pocket best in Seaway Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Brass in Pocket overcame a troubled break to take the $173,375 Seaway Stakes for fillies and mares at Woodbine Sunday.

Brass in Pocket rushed up to contest the pace after getting away slowly in the seven-furlong dash. She dueled with favored Whiletheiron'shot through fractions of :22.60 and :45.56, before assuming command at the quarter pole.

Brass in Pocket held Whiletheiron'shot and El Prado Essence at bay in the stretch, and prevailed by a length and a quarter over the latter. The final time was 1:24.45.

Jockey David Clark said Brass in Pocket was a little fractious in the gate. "(Whiletheiron'shot) tried to flip, and it upset her a little bit," Clark recalled. "She wasn't perfectly square when the doors open. She went to the lead on her own, pricked her ears, and by then it was just a matter of getting her to the wire."

Brass in Pocket ($6.50) banked $114,225 while notching her fourth stakes in five starts this year for owner Frank DiGiulio Jr. She is trained by Bob Tiller.