Dream On splits horses, powers home in Penn Mile
Trainer Mark Casse finally caught a glimpse of 3-year-old colt Dream On’s potential when he powered home to win the Grade 3, $400,000 Penn Mile on Friday at Penn National. The improving runner saved all the ground early and got the better of two stampeding rivals in the stretch to win by a length.
Three horses in the Penn Mile scratched, including 7-5 morning-line favorite Zulu Kingdom, leaving Casse with the two shortest prices in a five-horse field. While Mi Bago, the 3-5 favorite in the gate, was considered a dangerous pacesetter with recent graded stakes experience, Dream On was the work in progress of the pair.
After finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and inexplicably running flat in his return to stakes company at Tampa Bay Downs, Dream On bounced back to win his first stakes in the $125,000 Woodhaven in April. Casse still expected more from the colt coming off a layoff at Penn National. “We’ll cherish this win for a while,” Casse said.
Early on in the Penn Mile, it seemed like Dream On might be one of several colts fighting for second when Mi Bago established a comfortable early lead through a quarter-mile in 23.97 seconds.
The heavy favorite continued to cruise along, completing a half-mile in 48.30 and still led by a half-length in the stretch until he suddenly began to fade. The colt has had issues on soft surfaces in the past, and it seemed to hurt his chances again as the Penn Mile suddenly became a wide-open affair.
At first, it seemed like Out On Bail, a colt trained by Mike Maker, might get the first crack at the lead until Dream On and jockey Javier Castellano angled off the rail and split horses in a bold bid for the lead.
“He relaxed,” Casse said. “In fact, it’s probably the best I’ve seen him relax. Javier gave him a great ride, saved ground, and when he asked him to go, he took off.”
Out On Bail continued charging and 15-1 longshot Cairo Caper continued making up ground from fourth, but Dream On got the jump on them and never relented. He held on to win over Cairo Caper, a Phil Schoenthal runner who prevailed over Out On Bail by a head for second. Dream On paid $6 to win and finished the mile in 1:35.62 on a yielding course.
Casse was happy with Dream On’s breakthrough and disappointed in Mi Bago’s flagging finish, but he has reasons to take it slow with both runners going forward. Mi Bago will likely get some rest this summer after racing through the winter in Florida, while the trainer hopes to bask in Dream On’s graded stakes triumph a little longer before considering a next start.
Laurelin stays unbeaten Penn Oaks Laurelin, a 3-year-old filly trained by Graham Motion, extended her undefeated streak to four races in the $150,000 Penn Oaks.
“She’s pretty straightforward, this filly,” Motion said. “She does things very nicely and puts the jocks in a good spot. [Jorge Ruiz] did a great job, and I thought she won very comfortably.”
The rising star only had to deal with four rivals Friday after nearly half of the Penn Oaks field scratched. Chad Brown didn’t ship Midway Memories and Accent, while Cherie DeVaux and Rusty Arnold chose to keep Love and Poetry and Love You Anyway in Kentucky. The remaining fillies in the field were still strong, however, and Laurelin dealt with them professionally to win by 1 1/4 lengths, paying $3.20 to win.
Settling into fourth behind 35-1 pacesetter Pure Majestic, Motion’s filly was never in an uncomfortable position in the tightly bunched group of closers. The early leader completed a quarter-mile in 23.88 and a half-mile in 48.22, but the rest of the field completed much softer fractions behind her and easily ran her down on the far turn.
Turning for home, Candy Quest, one of two fillies entered by Casse, struck the front first under Castellano to lead by a half-length, but Laurelin was already moving outside of her and closing fast down the center of the track.
Casse and Castellano had their moment later on in the Penn Mile, but the Oaks was Laurelin’s, as she and Ruiz cruised past to win comfortably. The heavy favorite finished the mile in 1:35.54.
Motion nearly entered Laurelin in the Grade 2 Wonder Again earlier this month, but the race was taken off the turf. The trainer doesn’t believe he can delay her ascendance to graded stakes company any longer.
“Next time,” Motion said when asked about a potential graded stakes debut. “I think we have to.”
It’s still a loose plan for now, but Motion said he is considering the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks Invitational for Laurelin’s next start. It will be a challenge, but one she has certainly earned early in her career.
Conner sweeps Pennyslvania-bred stakes While high-profile connections were preparing to duke it out in the Penn Mile and Oaks on Friday evening at Penn National, jockey Tyler
Conner was putting on a one-man show in a pair of statebred $75,000 stakes.
Working out perfect trips in back-to-back races, the jockey was indisputably a difference maker guiding 6-year-old mare Corinna and 5-year-old gelding Fierce and Strong to victories in the Lyphard Stakes and Alphabet Soup Handicap.
Corinna was one of three horses entered in the Lyphard by trainer Michael Matz, whose odds improved even more when four runners scratched in the field of 12.
While her stablemates, Stern Chaser and Lady Outofthe Blue, were both contenders with stakes victories last year, she was making her stakes debut off a layoff of more than nine months.
Bettors made Corinna the longest shot of the Matz trio, but she appeared neither rusty nor outclassed Friday. Working toward the inside on the backstretch under Conner, the mare chased down a pair of loose front-runners, slipped up the rail, and cut the corner to take firm command at the top of the stretch.
Jeanne Marie, an 8-1 outsider trained by Butch Reid, followed along on the rail for second, while 5-2 favorite Princess Javoncia, trained by Elizabeth Merryman, swung wide into the stretch and had to settle for third. By the time those two came calling, Corinna and Conner were gone, powering home to win by 5 3/4 lengths. She finished the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:41.75 and paid $18.20 to win.
While Conner’s work on Corinna revolved around finding the best closing trip, in the Alphabet Soup, there was never a question of navigation when Fierce and Strong broke sharpest out of the gate. By the time the field of 10 was around the first turn, the gelding was already three lengths clear.
It would flatter Conner to say that he was nursing the front-runner along, but the truth is that Fierce and Strong was flying. After completing the opening quarter-mile in 22.26, he extended his lead to 5 1/2 lengths on the backstretch through a half-mile in 45.26. The early fractions had trainer Michael Salvaggio Jr. sweating.
“I don’t know if that was in our plans to go that far out in front in the lead, but this horse is so headstrong,” Salvaggio said. “It’s better to do that than to fight him. I sort of knew this morning, the way he was acting, that we were going to end up on the lead.”
The field slowly began to creep toward the loose front-runner, but with 2-5 favorite Eff Thirty Five more than 15 lengths behind, none of the closers were nearly close enough when Fierce and Strong entered the stretch with a 3 1/2-length lead.
Dylan’s Ruby, a 30-1 longshot trained by John Servis, had tracked the leader in second throughout the race and was the only one with a chance in the stretch. When Fierce and Strong finally hit a wall in the final furlong, it looked like he was standing still as Dylan’s Ruby rapidly began making up ground.
Conner did everything he could to urge his exhausted gelding forward, desperate for the wire. He would not have lasted another stride, but in a tight photo finish, Fierce and Strong prevailed by a nose, successfully stealing the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:41.29. He paid $8.20 to win.
Undefeated in two starts this year, Salvaggio’s gelding won his 5-year-old debut in a five-furlong sprint at Pimlico, closing from seventh in another big day for Conner. His gate-to-wire victory at Penn National on Friday was vastly different, a testament to his versatility. He has now won 6 of 8 starts on his home course in Grantville.
After notching an allowance victory in the second race, Conner won three of the first four on Friday, stealing the show early on a stacked Penn National card.