Temple City’s Pass the Plate wins thriller in Pago Hop S.

Pass the Plate’s flying finish earned the 3-year-old Temple City filly a nose victory over Evil Lyn in Saturday’s Pago Hop S. at Fair Grounds, her first stakes win after running second in last month’s Mrs’ Revere S. (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Saturday’s one-mile turf outcome wasn’t decided until the final stride. Pass the Plate was last of nine after a quarter-mile and still had a half-dozen lengths to make up at the top of the stretch. Moving from inside to out under Brian Hernandez, Jr., Pass the Plate ran down Evil Lyn to put her nose in front on the wire. The “about” one mile went in 1:37.36 on the “good” turf.

“The race kind of plotted out like I envisioned,” Hernandez said. “With her coming from behind like that, I just needed to try to save as much ground as possible before swinging out and trying to run her (Evil Lyn) down.”

Pass the Plate is now 4-for-12 lifetime, including placing in four stakes, with earnings of $290,560 for owner/breeder Silverton Hill LLC.

Temple City is now the sire of 38 black type horses. His largest crop to date will be 3-year-olds of 2021. He is standing next year for $5,000 S&N.