Inaugural Stakes tops opening-day card

Presque Isle Downs, located near Erie, Pa., will begin its customary 100-date meet Sunday. Racing will continue through Sept. 25 on a Sunday-through-Thursday basis with a 5:25 p.m. Eastern first post. The exceptions will be Preakness Day (May 17) and Belmont Stakes Day (June 7), when Saturday evening cards will be held.

“We hope the excitement of the Triple Crown races will spill over to our live racing.” said Debbie Howells, director of racing. “We always have huge crowds for the Triple Crown races, and fans will be able to enjoy our racing before and after the big races.”

Howells said drive-through wagering will be available for the Triple Crown races for the first time.

The casino at Presque Isle houses 1,700 slot machines and table games.

For the fourth time in five years, Presque Isle can boast that the winner of its premier race, the Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Masters, went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and was then voted an Eclipse Award winner. Groupie Doll accomplished the feat in 2012 and 2013. In 2011, Musical Romance also used the Masters as a stepping-stone to a Breeders’ Cup win and an Eclipse Award. Informed Decision turned the trick in 2009.

The Masters will be held Sunday, Sept. 7. The second-richest race of the meet, the $200,000 Presque Isle Mile, will be run the next day.

Two starter-allowance series, one for males and one for females, will again be contested this season. Each series will have five legs. The Speedball, for fillies and mares who have run for $12,500 or less, begins at 4 1/2 furlongs with a purse of $30,000. The distance goes up a half-furlong and the purse $5,000 in each of the subsequent races. The series for males begins at 1 5/8 miles and goes up to 2 1/4 miles with the same purse schedule.

Stall superintendent Corrie Boyd said there were 1,100 stall applications for the 692 stalls on the grounds. Trainer Tim Hamm is back to defend his training title against Joe Martin, Randall Russell, Jeff Radosevich, Jamie Ness, Wayne Rice, Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, John Bourke, Tim Girten, Jevon Crumley, and Gerald Brooks. Three newcomers – Sandy Cataldi, Norman Pointer, and Miranda Downing – merit attention.

The jockey colony will mirror past seasons, with Pablo Morales trying to defend his title against Scott Spieth, Mario Pino, Ronnie Allen Jr., Ricky Feliciano, Deshawn Parker, and Harry Vega.

The opening-day feature is the $100,000 Inaugural Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies over Presque Isle’s Tapeta surface. Zensational Bunny will face nine rivals while looking for her second consecutive stakes win.

Trained by Mark Casse, Zensational Bunny won the $144,000 Star Shoot at Woodbine last month in her most recent start. In a change of tactics, Zensational Bunny, normally a front-runner, came from just off the pace in that six-furlong race. She finished fourth in the Grade 3 Old Hat at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 4 and then was given some time off. In her next out, she finished seventh in the Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park. Gary Boulanger will be aboard Sunday for the first time.

Paloma P will try to win her fourth consecutive race in the Inaugural. The Eric Reed trainee won her maiden at Turfway Park on Dec. 31 and then scored in an allowance Feb. 1. In her last out, she captured an allowance race at Sam Houston going a mile over the turf course. Parker retains the mount.