The 1 1/16-mile event has attracted eight entrants, including True Metropolitan, Jiggs Coz and Presque Isle Mile hero Summer Doldrums.
After two off-the-board finishes in sprints, longshot Unusual Suspect appears to be cycling back towards a peak effort.
Jockey Chantal Sutherland said Unusual Suspect's last effort was his best since shipping to Woodbine.
"I thought he ran really good," said Sutherland. "He gave me that one last spurt - for an eighth of a mile - then he flattened out that last bit. It was like I was going to catch them, but not quite."
The third-place finish quietly elevated the Barry, David and Dyan Abrams-owned runner's career earnings past $500,000.
Sutherland, who has been aboard the four-year-old California-bred in all three of his Woodbine starts, said she knows the colt well.
"He's got no speed and he makes one late run. He always runs his race. He's pretty consistent," said Sutherland.
Unusual Suspect is 6-for-27 lifetime, with four seconds and three thirds.
The colt's most important victory was a nose score over the Hollywood Park turf in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Express Handicap at six furlongs on November 24, 2007.
The Chinese Cultural Centre Seagram Cup is slated for race seven on Sunday's 10-race card.
FIELD FO THE CHINESE CULTURAL CENTRE SEAGRAM CUP - JULY 24, 2008
POST - HORSE - JOCKEY - TRAINER
1 - Jiggs Coz - David Clark - Sid Attard
2 - Artie Hot - Emma-Jayne Wilson - Nicholas Gonzalez
3 - Shillelagh Slew - Jerry Baird - Mike DePaulo
4 - Summer Doldrums - Patrick Husbands - Richard Violette, Jr.
5 - True Metropolitan - Jim McAleney - Terry Jordan
6 - Palladio - Richard Dos Ramos - Roger Attfield
7 - Torquay - Eurico Rosa da Silva - Nicholas DeToro
8 - Unusual Suspect - Chantal Sutherland - Barry Abrams