Ghost Hunter seeks repeat win in Presque Isle Mile

Presque Isle Downs cards two stakes on the eve of its signature race, with defending winner Ghost Hunter back for the $200,000 Presque Isle Mile and 2-year-old Pennsylvania-bred fillies running in the $100,000 Mrs. Henry D. Paxson Memorial Stakes.

The Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters, at 6 1/2 furlongs, will be run Monday.

Ghost Hunter, trained by Jamie Ness, headlines the Presque Isle Mile off a productive spring and summer. He finished second by a neck in the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup on Arlington Park’s synthetic main track, then won two races on its turf course, including the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap, the local prep for the Arlington Million. That prompted his connections to take a shot at the Grade 1 Million, but he finished 11th. Two weeks later he finished third in an allowance race at a mile at Presque Isle.

The winner of that allowance, Tale of the Nile, and runner-up, Black Tie Event, both face Ghost Hunter again in the Presque Isle Mile. Tale of the Nile, getting a rubber match after running second in this stakes last year, comes in with momentum, having won 2 of his last 3.

War Correspondent, returning from a layoff for Christophe Clement, owns the field’s top Beyer Speed Figures this year. He finished a creditable fourth, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap with a Beyer of 102. He then won the Grade 3 Miami Mile at Gulfstream, earning a 101. That race, on April 29, was his most recent outing.

Downtown Cowboy is stepping up to stakes company off back-to-back optional-claiming victories at Presque Isle. He has won 4 of his last 5, and has not finished worse than second in more than a year.

Several are coming into the Mile off productive campaigns on the synthetic or turf surfaces at Woodbine. Gigantic Breeze won three straight races there earlier this year, and is fresh off two graded stakes placings. Western Elegance, graded-placed at Woodbine this year, and stakes-placed Bugle Barry complete the field.

Bronx Beauty is the only one of the juvenile fillies in the six-furlong Paxson Memorial with stakes experience, having won her debut at Penn National by seven lengths before taking the off-the-turf Colleen Stakes at Monmouth. But she is stretching out beyond 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time, and has never been on a synthetic surface.

O’Paddy won her maiden going five furlongs at Presque Isle with this field’s top Beyer, a 60. She then finished second in two allowance-optional sprints at the track, earning a Beyer of 59 both times.