Decisive win for A Bit O'Gold

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A Bit O'Gold ($7) reaffirmed his fondness for the grass with a decisive victory in the Grade 2, $345,600 Chinese Cultural Centre Stakes at Woodbine Sunday.

A Bit O'Gold, the 124-pound highweight, assumed a stalking position in the two-path in the mile and three-eighth turf event. Niigon, who defeated A Bit O'Gold in the 2004 Queen's Plate, led through honest fractions while being pressed by Burst of Fire, one of three Sam-Son Farm runners in the lineup.

Jono Jones angled A Bit O'Gold wide exiting the far turn, and they hit the front early in the stretch before scoring by two lengths over a closing Mobil. Last Answer finished another neck back in third, and Affirmative Action, the favored New York invader, was fourth in the quality 11-horse field. The final time was 2:15.94 seconds.

"I tried to save as much ground as I could, because he (was carrying) the most weight," Jones said. "When I wheeled him out, he did the rest."

A Bit O'Gold, who won his only other grass attempt in the 2004 Breeders' Stakes, banked $205,920 for The Two Bit Racing Stable and trainer Catherine Day Phillips.

* Awesome Action ($17.60) recorded the biggest upset of the meeting when he overhauled heavily favored Soaring Free at the eighth pole en route to a half-length win in Sunday's supporting feature, the $81,800 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes.

Awesome Action, ridden by Robert Landry for trainer Sue Leslie, covered seven furlongs on the turf in 1:22.27.