Pass the Plate surges at wire in Pago Hop Stakes

Pass the Plate passed the favorite in the final jump to win the $75,000 Pago Hop Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Evil Lyn, who went off at odds of 4-5, broke from the outside gate under Florent Geroux and went to the front, setting splits of 24.13, 48,60, and 1:13 in this turf mile for 3-year-old fillies. She held the lead nearly every step of the race – except the one that counted.

Pass the Plate was last early, still had six horses in front of her at the eighth pole, but coming widest of all under Brian Hernandez Jr., she found another gear the final furlong that no one else could match. One final lunge, as Evil Lyn dug in after holding off all the other pursuers, and Pass the Plate was home.

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That, though, is how Pass the Plate rolls – namely, very late. Lacking any semblance of positional pace, Pass the Plate has a strong stretch punch at her best. She won an off-turf allowance race this past fall at Keeneland, but this was the filly’s first turf win since November 2019. She paid $15 to win and ran about one mile on a “good” turf course in 1:37.36.

In Good Spirits, who tracked the pace, finished third, with second-choice Disobedient unable to make much of a favorable trip, checking in fourth.

Paul McGee trains Pass the Plate for her breeder, Silverton Hill. The filly is by Temple City out of Pocket Gift, by Great Notion, and she won for the fourth time in 12 starts.