Jean Valjean notches convincing victory in Marshall Jenney Stakes
:quality(75))
Jean Valjean scrapped for the early lead and kicked clear in commanding fashion to win the $75,000 Marshall Jenney Stakes on Friday. The 7-year-old gelding remains unbeaten in three career turf starts at Penn National and paid $4.60 to win.
“He just really likes the flat five-eights, and he likes the fast turf course,” trainer Elizabeth Merryman said. “He’s all about the speed.”
With a quick start out of the gate in the turf sprint, jockey Jomar Torres hustled Jean Valjean forward on the outside of Showtime Matinee and Talented Man. Both longshots relented to the 6-5 favorite, who breezed through the opening quarter-mile in 22.64 seconds.
While Torres and the early leader cruised well clear on the backstretch, the rest of the field seemed to accordion behind them, putting several runners in tight quarters. The 8-1 outsider Kalahari Not Sorry was forced to back out to last on the inside and several others lost ground, leading to an inquiry which yielded no change.
Uncle Dar and Flamingo Way, the 2-1 second choice trained by Philip Aristone, both made belated moves on the far turn to challenge the front-runner, but they were little more than feints for command. Jean Valjean pulled away to win by five lengths, completing the five-furlong distance in 55.32 seconds. He paid $4.60 to win.
Flamingo Way rallied for second by 1 1/2 lengths over Uncle Dar, who was originally an also-eligible runner for trainer Tyler Servis. Fore Harp finished fourth in front of a strung-out group of also-rans.
In April, Jean Valjean returned from a 17-month layoff and jumped right back into listed stakes company in the Mid-Atlantic. He led into the stretch in the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury at Laurel Park before fading to seventh, but he showed more to win a $56,000 allowance with a 92 Beyer Speed Figure the following month.
“It’s really fun to have him walk back in the barn this year and start back,” Merryman said. “He was fresh and doing well. He can be very, very challenging to train, but fortunately, he’s very rewarding.”
After a game fifth in the $125,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint on May 16, Merryman said she struggled to find spots for her gelding, entering him on the synthetic at Presque Isle and a $130,000 allowance at Saratoga. Those two efforts yielded little improvement, but the Pennsylvania-bred was clearly back in the right company on Friday.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.