Miss Blue Tye Dye romps in off-the-turf Ligature

Miss Blue Tye Dye used her early speed to good advantage when the Ligature Stakes was shifted from the turf to a wet main track, cruising to an 11 3/4-length victory Saturday night at Penn National Race Course.

The $75,000 Ligature was the feature on a 10-race program with inflated purses worth a collective $475,000. The extra money was put up by the Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association as a reward for local trainers who supported the track before revenue from slot machines pumped up the purse structure dramatically.

Aside from the stakes, six other overnight races were worth $40,000 or more, including a 1 1/2-mile name-your-own-claiming marathon won by trainer Thomas

Smith's 5-year-old gelding Lamp of Life ($3.20) by 11 1/4 lengths while carrying 134 pounds.

Total handle on the card was $1.05 million.

In the Ligature, reduced to six Pennsylvania-bred fillies and mares by six scratches when the race was taken off the turf because of heavy rain, Miss Blue Tye Dye ($8.60) was sent to the front by Frankie Pennington and shook off some early pressure from Coastal Solace to win for the first time in four starts this season. Last year, the now 5-year-old Miss Blue Tye, based at Philadelphia Park with trainer Robert Reid, won four stakes, including three in a row at Penn National, Presque Isle, and Philly Park. She completed 1 1/16 miles on a track rated good in 1:45.30.

Coastal Solace, part of a coupled entry for trainer Steve Klesaris that went off at 4-5, finished second, 4 1/4 lengths in front of Syd N Carly's Rose. Coastal Solace's stablemate Speechifying finished fourth.