Jes See Me stays hot with Crowd Pleaser score
:quality(75))
Jes See Me switched back to turf and found the perfect trip under Charlie Marquez to win the $75,000 Crowd Pleaser Stakes on Friday at Penn National. The 3-year-old gelding has now won six of his last seven starts while rising through the ranks for trainer Darien Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, who earned his first stakes victory since 2019, claimed Jes See Me for $20,000 at Tampa Bay Downs in March. He has not entered him for a tag since, winning allowances at Tampa and Presque Isle. The gelding was bet down to 9-5 in his stakes debut against Pennsylvania-breds and paid $5.80 to win.
Ramses the Great, Mailata, and the Bernie Houghton-trained pair of Guitar Money and Mister Me all scratched from the Crowd Pleaser, leaving a shortened field of five 3-year-olds.
Red Zone Runner, the 8-5 favorite trained by Hugo Padilla, set the early pace in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, taking advantage of his position on the rail entering the first turn. He completed the opening quarter-mile in 23.34 seconds.
Jes See Me briefly vied for command on the outside, but Marquez eventually decided to settle into second. The eventual winner continued to apply pressure to Red Zone Runner through a half-mile in 47.88 while the maiden Resolute stalked in third.
With the early leader flagging on the far turn and Resolute driving, the top three ended up on even terms turning for home, but Jes See Me had the most momentum between horses and took a short lead at the top of the stretch.
Resolute, who remains winless in five starts for John Servis, did his best to contend but came up short by a length. Jes See Me completed the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:41.44.
Classic Nofty, the 2-1 third choice trained by Phil Schoenthal, closed from fifth to take third, finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind Resolute. Red Zone Runner faded to last behind the 33-1 longshot Fly in the Mystic.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.