Hold Me Back edges Pool Play at Woodbine

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Bill Mott-trained Hold Me Back ($9.20) turned back a stern challenge from 11-1 shot Pool Play to take the Grade 3, $216,400 Dominion Day Stakes at Woodbine Thursday.

Hold Me Back raced in mid-pack on the outside in the 1 1/4-mile route, as Mast Track set honest fractions of 24.42. 48.12, and 1:12.31 before tiring.

Hold Me Back hit the front early in the stretch, and then held off Pool Play to win by a head in 2:03.64, just .18 of a second off the Polytrack record. Favored Southdale finished another 3 1/4 lengths back in third in the nine-horse field.

Tyler Pizarro rode Hold Me Back.

"We were going really comfortably," said Pizarro. "We were keeping some of the horses boxed in down on the inside. We just had the cleanest trip of all of them. He has a big heart. He wouldn't let [Pool Play] go by."

Hold Me Back, the 12th-place finisher in the 2009 Kentucky Derby, collected $120,000 for WinStar Farm.