The Money Dance goes for third straight in Tom Ridge Stakes

Presque Isle Downs kicks off its stakes schedule, which has steadily risen in prominence, on Monday with the $100,000 Tom Ridge Stakes, for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs on the all-weather surface.

The Money Dance, who races as a homebred for Indiana’s Michael and Penny Lauer, is the lukewarm 3-1 morning-line choice in the field of 12 as he comes off back-to-back wins. The colt won an Oaklawn Park maiden race by seven lengths April 14, then rallied for a one-length score in an optional claimer going a one-turn mile May 3 at Belmont. The Money Dance earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83, the best in Monday’s field.

Flash Drive, the second choice on the morning line, is coming off a wire-to-wire 6 1/4-length win in an optional-claiming sprint at Aqueduct. Oldzfourfortytwo won a stakes against Pennsylvania-breds at Presque Isle last year, while Shekky Shebaz was stakes placed on the synthetic track. The field also includes stakes winner Tudox Expectations and stakes-placed runners Jamaican Don, O’Malley’s March, and Shangroyal.

Presque Isle opened its 100-day meet May 14, and it runs through Oct. 4. The stakes schedule is anchored by the Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes for female sprinters Sept. 17. The Masters, inaugurated in 2007, has been won by a trio of Eclipse Award champions while establishing itself as a prominent event for the division. Informed Decision won the race in both 2009 and in 2010, when she was champion female sprinter; Musical Romance won the race as part of her 2011 title campaign; and two-time Eclipse champion Groupie Doll won the race in both 2012 and 2013. Last year, Ami’s Mesa won the Masters by a length over Bar of Gold. Less than two months later, Bar of Gold nosed out Ami’s Mesa in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The Masters is preceded the night before, Sept. 16, by the $200,000 Presque Isle Mile. Along with the Masters, Mile, and Tom Ridge, the track’s other open stakes are the Karl Boyes Memorial on June 18, the Satin and Lace Stakes on Aug. 20, the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes on Oct. 4, and the HBPA Stakes on Oct. 4. All are worth $100,000.

The track also cards five $100,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-breds in the Leematt Stakes and Northern Fling Stakes, both July 8; the Malvern Rose Stakes on Aug. 5; the Mark McDermott Stakes on Sept. 2; and the Mrs. Henry D. Paxson Memorial Stakes on Sept. 16.