Dimension displays patient tactics in capturing King Edward Stakes

Dimension, displaying the new style which he has developed this year under the tutelage of trainer Conor Murphy, rallied from seventh place in the field of eight to capture Saturday’s Grade 2 King Edward Stakes at 17-1.

Under his regular local rider Davy Moran, the Kentucky-based Dimension covered the mile of turf in 1:33.19 while winning by 1.25 lengths.

Hammerstein, the longest shot in the field at 60-1, had led through opening fractions of :22.76 and :45.53 before giving way.

Solemn Tribute, overcoming a less than ideal start, stalked the pace from third and took over around the final turn but was unable to contain the closing swoop of Dimension and ended second.

Tower of Texas, the defending champion in the King Edward, trailed early and rallied late on the outside to finish third while making his first start of the season.

Full Mast, the even-money shipper trained by Bill Mott, had some traffic trouble at the top of the stretch and finished fourth while Smokem Kitten, invading from Kentucky for Mike Maker, weakened to fifth after pressing Hammerstein’s pace for a half-mile.

Tesseron, Hammerstein and Commute completed the order of finish. Born In a Breeze was scratched.

The oldest member of the field at age 8, Dimension delivered a virtual replica of his race here four weeks ago in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup, a seven-furlong turf race in which he had come from last in a field of five to score at 20-1.

“We just wanted to do the same as last time—get him happy, and comfortable. At the three-eighths pole he was running over the back of them. He quickened up smart, and he ran right to the wire. He’s confident right now. He’s really back to himself.”

Dimension, who also won the 2013 Grade 2 Play the King here over seven furlongs of turf, will return to his Kentucky training base but Murphy plans to be back at Woodbine for the Aug. 20 renewal of that $200,000 turf race.

The winner paid $37.10, $14.60, and $10.90 fronting a $278.70 exactor with Solemn Tribute ($8.50, $4.70), while an 8-6-7 triactor with Tower of Texas ($4.90) returned $1088.10, and a $1 superfecta (8-6-7-2) completed by Full Mast was worth $1,854.80.

Generous Touch took over the lead in midstretch and held sway for a half-length victory here in Saturday’s $125,400 Passing Mood Stakes, a seven-furlong turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Generous Touch won the Passing Mood with an unofficial assist from Little Christmas, who came in and bumped the favored Sugar Jones in early stretch, causing that even-money choice to take up rather sharply just as she was swinging out to launch her move.

While Sugar Jones recovered quickly, the incident appeared to take its toll as her closing move fell short.

Generous Touch, meanwhile, broke sharply under jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva but conceded the early lead, dropping back to fourth while Old Valyria set the pace through a quarter in :22.62.

Old Valyria continued to lead through a half in :45.71 before Generous Touch launched her move around the final turn and in front through six furlongs in 1:10.05.

“She was very sharp; she wanted to go to the lead,” said Da Silva, who was riding Generous Touch for the first time. “I took her back a little bit. She was very, very relaxed. She was wonderful.

A homebred owned by Howard Walton, Generous Touch was making her first start on turf (as were each of her eight rivals) and recording her first stakes win for owner Sid Attard.

Westlodge Intrigue, who like Sugar Jones is trained by Mike Mattine, stalked the pace and finished a good third with Bella Fabiana rallying late to check in fourth.

Little Christmas, Kelly Bird, Old Valyria, Maximum Entropy and Bella’s Ballerina completed the order of finish.

Generous Touch ($16.30, $5.90, $4.40) keyed a 5-4 exactor payoff of $48.30 with Sugar Jones ($3.10, $2.90). Westlodge Intrigue ($7.50) completed a 5-4-1 triactor worth $383.20 with Bella Fabiana rounding out a $1 5-4-1-7 superfecta of $835.90.