Cawaja Beach returning - on turf

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The unbeaten Cawaja Beach makes her belated season debut Wednesday night in the $125,000 Passing Mood, a seven-furlong turf stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Cawaja Beach made each of her four 2-year-old starts over Woodbine's Polytrack surface. She prevailed by daylight in her first two outings, in Ontario-sired maiden company and the Shady Well Stakes.

Cawaja Beach pressed the pace en route to a hard-fought victory third time out the Nandi Stakes in August. Following a two-month layoff, she rallied very wide for an exhilarating score in another six-furlong stakes for Ontario-sired fillies, the Victorian Queen.

Trainer Scott Fairlie said Cawaja Beach underwent stem cell therapy after developing a tendon problem last year.

"She had a small tear in her tendon," Fairlie recalled. "It was a very small lesion. We went through months of therapy, doing what was told of us. Usually, with a tendon thing, it's six months to a year, and we're right on schedule with her. Everything is good right now."

Fairlie said Cawaja Beach worked five-eighths in 1:00.40 with a talented older runner, Gantu, on the Polytrack July 13.

"It was pretty impressive," Fairlie said.

Fairlie said Cawaja Beach breezed an easy quarter-mile without making time over the turf training course July 12.

"She went in 26 or 27," Fairlie recalled. "We weren't trying to make her go in a fast time, because we knew she was working the next day. She seemed to float across it pretty good. I don't think [the grass] is going to be an issue, but we'll see."

Daniel David will ride Cawaja Beach, the 126-pound highweight in the eight-horse field.

Sans Sousi and Double Malt will also be making their first turf start.

Sans Sousi toppled Ontario-sired opposition in the seven-furlong Lady Angela Stakes in April. She was recently second to the older stakes winner Anne's Purse in an Ontario-sired allowance.

Double Malt has failed to hit the board in five starts this year, although she wasn't badly beaten last out in the Bison City Stakes.

Koonunga Hill fared well on the grass at 2, when she captured the Ice Water Stakes and ran third in the Grade 3 Natalma Stakes. She finished a close second in the Lady Angela, and has been freshened since her fade job in the June 7 Woodbine Oaks.

Lucky n' Bold possesses a turf pedigree, being by Bold n' Flashy and out of a Sky Classic mare.