Too Late Now takes Selene

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Too Late Now, an obscurely bred daughter of Raj Waki, easily defeated a talented field of 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 1 Selene Stakes at Woodbine Monday.

Too Late Now ($13.60) stalked a lively pace under Robert Landry in the mile and a sixteenth event, as Winter Garden, Handpainted and Cat's Cat dueled through splits of :22.98 and :46.75 and 1:12.12 seconds.

Too Late Now was angled three-wide for the drive at the head of the stretch, and overhauled Handpainted and Winter Garden inside the eighth pole en route to two and a half-length victory.

Handpainted disposed of Winter Garden in deep stretch to finish a clear second, while favored New York shipper Theology was seventh in the nine-horse field. The final time was 1:44.36 seconds.

"I had a great trip," said Landry. "Our plan was to sit off the pace if we could, because there looked to be a lot of speed in the race. She was a little aggressive early."

Too Late Now was making her stakes debut in the Selene, and is now unbeaten in three starts. Trained by Jim Day, she earned $166,650 of the $277,750 purse for Come By Chance Stable.