Gershwin, in tune with surface switch to sloppy main track, takes Penn Mile
Owner Godolphin and trainer Michael Stidham entered Gershwin in the $200,000 Penn Mile wondering if a move from dirt to turf might generate improvement in the well-bred Distorted Humor colt, a half-brother to 2021 Dubai World Cup-winner Mystic Guide. The turf experiment didn’t happen, but Gershwin became a stakes winner, posting a two-length win in the Penn Mile, rained from grass onto dirt just like the other three stakes races Friday night at Penn National.
The Penn Mile was categorized as a Grade 2 this year, but owing to the surface switch the North American Graded Stakes Committee will review the race to see if it merits downgrading.
Gershwin ($6.80) earned an “A” in his stakes debut, settling under Joe Bravo off fractions of 24.66 and 49.13 as Sibelius and The King Cheek led a field reduced to five runners by the scratches of Original and Outadore. Gershwin loomed in upper stretch, took over without appearing to work especially hard, and was ridden out to victory, stopping the timer in 1:39.24 for one mile over a sloppy track. The King Cheek finished second, more than six lengths in front of third-place Chess’s Dream, as 9-5 favorite Annex never contended, and Sibelius faded to last.
A homebred out of the A.P. Indy mare Music Note, Gershwin is trained by Michael Stidham.
* Orb’s Baby Girl ($8.60) went wire to wire, easily winning the off-turf $100,000 Penn Oaks under Junior Alvarado. Orb’s Girl is by Orb out of This Is War, by War Front, and is trained by Anthony Margotta. Trolley Ride ($17.80) upset odds-on Midnight Obsession in the $100,000 Lyphard, an off-turf race for Pennsylvania-bred fillies and mares, while Raven’s Delight ($9.40) won the Lyphard’s companion race, the off-turf With Anticipation, another PA-bred race.