Bartlett holds on to win Governor's Cup by a neck
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The speedy and versatile Bartlett earned his long overdue turf victory in the $150,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Stakes on Friday at Penn National. The gate-to-wire winner was flagging late in the 1 1/16-mile race, but jockey Frankie Pennington had enough left to hold on by a neck.
“They ran very fast early and I I knew it was gonna catch up to him,” trainer John Servis said. “But he had enough to hang on, so that was good.”
Coming off his first stakes victory on dirt against Pennsylvania-breds in the $100,000 Storm Cat at Parx Racing last month, the 5-year-old gelding stepped back into open company and scored again in his fourth career start on the grass.
“It worked out really well,” Servis said. “We were going to cross-enter between Parx and Penn, but when the race came up and looked the way it did, I didn't see any reason for it to be better at Parx.”
In his three prior turf starts, all in stakes company under Pennington, the jockey sent Bartlett to the front early, making the plan fairly straightforward at Penn National. The 4-5 favorite took an uncontested lead entering the first turn and completed the opening quarter-mile in 22.59 seconds. He held it without much pressure through a half-mile in 46.12.
Idratherbeblessed, the 5-2 second choice trained by Michael Maker, had a prime chance to close from a stalking position in fourth, but he never fired and faded in the stretch. Instead, the Ohio-bred Spellcast made a bid from third for trainer Tim Hamm. He ended up as Bartlett’s only challenger.
With a clear lead at the top of the stretch, it seemed like the pacesetter had enough to hold on, but he began to tire in the final furlong. Spellcast, on the other hand, was surging, making a race of it under Rocco Bowen, who typically rides him closer to his base at Thistledown. He traveled with the gelding to Penn National when he finished second in last year’s Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup.
The Ohio-based pair got much closer in this year’s edition, but they ultimately had to settle for second again. Bartlett had just enough room to hold on, completing the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:39.47 and paying $3.60 to win.
Crisper, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Tim Woolley, picked up the pieces from well back for third, finishing 2 1/4 lengths behind Spellcast.
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