Ghostly Presence Wins Princess Elizabeth

Chiefswood Stable's homebred Ghostly Presence got up in the final strides to catch heavy favorite Enstone in the $250,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Woodbine Nov. 12. 

Front-running Enstone, under jockey Patrick Husbands, set an easy pace with fractions of :24.76, :49:03, 1:13.50, and 1:37.68 through a mile. She opened up by 4 1/2 lengths on the backside before the field of Canadian-bred, 2-year-old fillies started gaining ground on her around the turn for home in the 1 1/16-mile contest.

Ghostly Presence, a 19-1 longshot ridden by jockey Steve Bahen, stalked the pace and drove to the wire to catch Enstone and win by a half-length in a final time of 1:43.90 for trainer Roger Attfield. Mythical Mission finished third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Enstone. Both Mythical Mission and Enstone entered off victories over the Woodbine all-weather track.

"(Attfield) said she had some speed and to just try to get over and get position leaving from the outside," Bahen said of the instructions given for his mount, who broke from post 10.

Spring Tempest, Missy Crissy, Cindervella, China Rider, Erin Commodity, Lemon Zip, Crumlin Queen, and Evil Woman rounded out the field. 

It was the second win for Ghostly Presence, who scored by eight lengths in her first start, a six-furlong maiden special weight at Woodbine Aug. 13. The daughter of Ghostzapper   entered the Princess Elizabeth off a fourth-place run in a Oct. 21 off-the-turf allowance race at 1 1/16 miles, which was won by Mythical Mission. Before that, Ghostly Presence finished fifth, out of a field of six, in the Sept. 10 Ontario Debutante Stakes at six furlongs. 

"I thought her last race was a really good race," Attfield said. "She didn't have a very good trip, did she? I kind of liked her in here and then we drew the outside, and I really don't like the outside position on this track going a mile and a sixteenth.

"She had enough speed to get out and get over before the turn without having to use her. From then on out, I was happy with where she was in the race. She's a nice little filly."

Bred in Ontario, the 2-year-old Ghostly Precense is the first runner and the first winner out of the unraced Canadian-bred Distorted Humor mare Five N Forty. 

Ghostly Presence's sire Ghostzapper currently sits at No. 20 in the national sire rankings for this year, lead by multiple graded stakes winner Paulassilverlining. He has sired 51 stakes winners from 453 runners worldwide. He stood in 2016 for $75,000 at Adena Springs in Kentucky.

The winner returned $41, $15.70, and $8 across the board. Enstone brought $4 and $2.80, and Mythical Mission paid $3.