Parx Racing, Class E Holiday, Ann's Smart Dancer in for tags in Monday sprint

Earlier in their careers, the 4-year-old fillies Class E Holiday and Ann’s Smart Dancer were good enough to run in stakes. But when they line up for Monday’s $48,000 sprint feature at Parx Racing, both Class E Holiday and Ann’s Smart Dancer will have a claiming tag on their heads.

Class E Holiday, who picked up small pieces of the purse in a pair of minor stakes this summer, and Ann’s Smart Dancer, a three-time stakes winner against Pennsylvania-bred company last season, are both entered for the optional $25,000 claiming price in a 6 1/2-furlong race that also is open to second-level allowance fillies and mares.

Based at Delaware Park with trainer Mac Robertson, Class E Holiday comes back at the same level where she missed by a nose slightly more than two weeks ago going six furlongs. The only difference is she will be racing at 6 1/2 furlongs for the first time. In her only previous trip to Parx, Class E Holiday cleared her third allowance condition, coming from off the pace to score by 2 1/4 lengths.

Ann’s Smart Dancer enjoyed a stellar 3-year-old campaign, winning 5 of 8 starts and nearly $227,000. She hasn’t been the same filly in 2012, going 0 for 8, and changed hands when she was claimed out of a third-place finish for $16,000 in mid-September. Last time out, in her second race for new trainer Donald White, Ann’s Smart Dancer improved her Beyer Speed Figure 25 points to earn an 80 while third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Class E Holiday.

The nine-horse field also includes Arlene’s Holiday – the lone 3-year-old in the lineup – and the 7-year-old Emily Allstar, a 10-time winner during her 42-race career.

Arlene’s Holiday, 2 for 2 sprinting on dirt, takes the next logical step up after defeating first-level allowance foes by four lengths a month ago.

Emily Allstar won a second-level optional $25,000 claimer Sept. 18 at Parx while making her first start off a $35,000 claim by trainer Mike Trombetta. She regressed when shipped to New York for a similar optional claimer on Oct. 7.

Parvenu adds blinkers to her equipment and drops in class in an attempt to snap a five-race losing streak that began when she returned from a four-month layoff in May. Prior to the break, Parvenu had won back-to-back allowance races locally in December and January.