Golden Production ships across country for Foxy J.G. Stakes

One horse who has been competing against top-flight competition in Southern California and another who made four unsuccessful starts this season in Arkansas might be the best value plays in a pair of $75,000 stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-breds on Saturday at Parx Racing.

Golden Production, a 5-year-old mare whose 13 career starts have all come in California, ships across the country for the Foxy J.G. Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. Two races earlier, Officer Alex returns to Pennsylvania for the first time in eight months for the seven-furlong Lyman Handicap.

West Coast shipper Golden Production is the most intriguing runner among 10 older females in race 10. Earlier this season, she won the Paseana Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita to extend her winning streak to four races. She subsequently was off the board in the Grade 2 Santa Maria and the American Beauty on turf.

Trainer Peter Miller’s 3-for-15 record with horses going from routes to sprints and turf to dirt includes a 37-1 upset by Heir of Storm in 2013 and a 12-1 score by Got Even in the 2011 running of the California Breeders.

The defending Foxy J.G. champion, Villette, the 2-1 favorite on the track’s morning line, is also cutting back from a one-mile turf route to a seven-furlong dirt sprint. But trainer John Servis is only 2 for 21 (10 percent) in that category, well below his 29 percent success rate overall at Parx this season.

The field also includes Where’s Rosie B, part of a coupled entry for trainer Mario Serey Jr. She is 3 for 3 at Parx this season, all in one-mile dirt routes.

In race 8, the Lyman Handicap, Officer Alex looks playable if you are willing to ignore his recent dull form at Oaklawn Park. The last time he shipped to Parx for a restricted stakes, Officer Alex rallied from eighth to miss by a length while earning a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the six-furlong Banjo Picker Stakes.

His seven rivals include Arlo, the runner-up in last year’s Lyman and a nine-time winner at Parx; Traffic Light, the winner of last summer’s Donald LeVine for open company; and Uptown Boy, who soared to a 106 Beyer the last time he faced Pennsylvania-breds.

Arlo is the only one of the trio who has raced this season. He comes off a runner-up finish March 25 to fellow Lyman contestant Zipped Code.

Both Traffic Light and Uptown Boy will be making their first starts since July.