Far Mo Power seeks better luck in rescheduled Kris Kringle

It’s better late than never for three $75,000 stakes, now for 4-year-olds and up, at Parx Racing on Wednesday.

The Kris Kringle, Mrs. Claus, and Blitzen Stakes were postponed one week after racing was canceled due to unsafe track conditions caused by frigid temperatures.

Far Mo Power has been unlucky in his last two starts but seeks better fortune in the Kris Kringle at a mile and 70 yards.

In the Parx Dirt Mile on Sept. 24, Far Mo Power bested subsequent Grade 1 Cigar Mile winner Mind Control but was disqualified and placed second for causing interference.

That decision didn’t sit well with trainer Lou Linder Jr.

“They hooked up at the three-eighths pole,” Linder said prior to Far Mo Power’s fourth-place finish in the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile on Oct. 18. “We were better than Mind Control that day, that’s for sure.”

Far Mo Power endured a tough trip in the Ballezzi.

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“Going into the first turn, he got sawed off hard, ended up on heels and was going backwards while everyone was going forwards,” Linder said.

Trainer Butch Reid was stymied by weather last week with his two entrants. Eloquist and Ridin With Biden were frozen out at Parx, then scratched out of the rescheduled Robert T. Manfuso Stakes last Friday at Laurel.

Reid had Ridin With Biden in the Queens County at Aqueduct on New Year’s Eve, but heavy fog forced that program’s cancellation after five races. The Queens County has been rescheduled for Saturday, with entries to be taken Wednesday morning.

“I will run one or the other in New York, that’s for sure,” Reid said Monday morning.

Eloquist has won three in a row, including Aqueduct’s Discovery over muddy footing Nov. 27. Ridin With Biden won three stakes in 2022, including the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at 1 1/2 miles on Sept. 24 and the Turkey Trot at a mile and 70 yards on Nov. 23.

American Patrol, a 5 3/4-length winner of a high-level allowance on Nov. 7 at Parx with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure, is a contender. American Patrol, purchased for $60,000 at the Keeneland January sale in 2021, has won 5 of 7 starts for trainer Cal Lynch.

Tough Tickets battled with several others for the lead when dismissed at 53-1 in the Turkey Trot, then stayed on gamely to finish second.

New Commission placed second in the Ballezzi after a rail-skimming trip, then finished fourth in the Turkey Trot after racing wide from post 9.

Amatteroftime lost all chance at the start of the Turkey Trot when missing the break. He received a 97 Beyer two back when wiring a high-level allowance at Delaware.

Speedsters Ruby Bleu, and Expensive Cut add to the pace dynamic.

Blitzen

The connections of Repo Rocks, Twisted Ride, Smooth B, and Wendell Fong apparently had the same idea as they scratched from last Friday’s Gravesend at Aqueduct for the six-furlong Blitzen.

Repo Rocks won last month’s Let’s Give Thanks in his first start for trainer Jamie Ness.

“We’ve had him in our program a little longer now and he seems to be thriving,” Ness said last week.

Ness also entered 13-time winner Yodel E. A. Who. Fourth in the Let’s Give Thanks, the 7-year-old gelding finished a close third in a high-level allowance on Dec. 18 at Laurel.

Twisted Ride ran second to Repo Rocks in the Let’s Give Thanks after battling for the lead. He earned a career-best 95 Beyer and might have an easier time of it up front in the rematch.

Stakes-winners Smooth B and Wendell Fong both enter in sharp form after victories in high-level allowance races at Parx and Laurel, respectively.

No Cents, Five Dreams, and Marvalous Mike also are expected.

Mrs. Claus

Centre Court Champ has won two in a row for trainer Robert Mosco, including a six-length romp in a second-level allowance on Dec. 12 at Parx. The 5-year-old mare makes her stakes debut in the Mrs. Claus at seven furlongs.

Centre Court Champ should be forwardly placed, along with Liscolvin, recently second in the Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies on Nov. 26 at Laurel.

Trainer Jonathan Wong entered My Kentucky Girl and Empire House. My Kentucky Girl received a 91 Beyer for winning a first-level allowance on Oct. 29 at Keeneland, then finished second in the Youngstown Oaks against fellow 3-year-olds on Nov. 21 at Mahoning Valley.

Empire House was third in the Grade 2 Zenyatta on Oct. 2 at Santa Anita, then finished a well-beaten fifth after engaging in a speed duel in the Grade 3 Chilukki on Nov. 19 at Churchill Downs.

They’ll face Moma Tiger, third in Parx’s Cornucopia on Nov. 23; romping last-out winner Pistol Liz Ablazen, Buy the Best, Trolley Ride, Deco Strong, J D’s Vista, and Ninetyprcentbrynn.

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