by Steve Bailey

Jim Dandy Stable’s Jiggs Coz surged to the front early and never faltered, leading at every call en route to a 2 ¾-length victory in the $202,004 Dominion Day Handicap (Can-G3) on Tuesday at Woodbine.

The four-year-old Cozzene colt, winner of last year’s Plate Trial Stakes and the third-place finisher in the Queens Plate Stakes, defeated Canada’s 2006 and '07 champion older horse True Metropolitan to pick up his first career graded stakes triumph.

Trained by Sid Attard, Jiggs Coz took command early, leading the field through pedestrian fractions of :24.76 and :50.07 under jockey David Clark as True Metropolitan chased from second, then third, through a half-mile under jockey James McAleney.

Picking up momentum around the far turn, Jiggs Coz dug in and drove to the wire unchallenged, covering 1 ¼ miles in 2:04.99 on a track rated fast to pick up his first victory in two starts this season.

True Metropolitan, a four-time Grade 3 winner who captured last year’s Dominion Day, moved out three wide late and chased through the lane to hold for second, one length in front of stakes winner Torquay.

Jiggs Coz bounced back from a ninth-place finish in the Connaught Cup (Can-G3) on May 25 at the Toronto track. Overall, he has won five of nine starts with a second- and two third-place finishes and has earned $620,569.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times