Woodbine: Grace Phil wins turf debut in Passing Mood

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Grace Phil caught Consecutive in deep stretch to land her turf debut Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,400 Passing Mood Stakes.

Grace Phil stalked the leaders along the inside, and then split horses in midstretch before kicking in to take the seven-furlong sprint by a half-length, in 1:23.69 over the firm ground. Pace-presser Consecutive finished 1 1/4 lengths clear of pacemaker Kitty's Got Class, the 126-pound highweight, who held on for third. Favored Estella never fired and wound up sixth in the nine-horse field of Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Steve Bahen rode Grace Phil for trainer Bob Tiller, who was winning the Passing Mood for the third time.

"She hadn't run in a while, and the idea was to try to get her to relax," said Bahen. "I tried to save her for the last part. It looked like I wasn't going to get out, but when I did get out and called on her, she came running at the end. She handled the grass real good."

Grace Phil ($8) collected $75,000 in her second stakes triumph for Hoof Hearted Stable.