Parx Racing: Fugitive Angel favored in Mrs. Penny on Pennsylvania showcase card

Fugitive Angel, a Grade 3 stakes winner two years ago, and Sloane Ranger, beaten a mere 1 1/2 lengths in a Grade 2 event two months ago, return to statebred company during Saturday’s Pennsylvania Day at the Races showcase at Parx Racing. Five stakes worth a collective $400,000 will be contested on the 11-race card.

The stakes finale, the $100,000 Mrs. Penny for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on turf, features the Jonathan Sheppard-trained Fugitive Angel, who will be making her 2012 debut. As a 3-year-old in the fall of 2010, Fugitive Angel won the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland and was a close third in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs.

The Mrs. Penny (race 10) attracted a full field of 12, including Frontside, a Kentucky-based 4-year-old who comes off stakes victories in the $106,000 Shelby County at Indiana Downs and the $100,000 West Virginia President’s Cup at Mountaineer.

Those searching for value might want to take a closer look at Little Often Anni (15-1), second by a head the last time she faced statebreds in the Lyphard; Marcie Lee (10-1), a winner the last time she raced on turf against open company in a second-level $25,000 optional claimer; and Previous Honor (6-1), a 3-year-old filly who makes her stakes debut after winning back-to-back races against $25,000 starter allowance company.

Sloane Ranger is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in a field of six sprinters signed on for the $75,000 Banjo Picker at six furlongs (race 6). The 6-year-old Sloane Ranger defeated open company in the $150,000 Donald LeVine at Parx in mid-June and was part of a contested pace before tiring slightly to finish third in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup going a mile. Most recently, Sloane Ranger was a dull seventh over a muddy track in the Grade 1 Alfred Vanderbilt at Saratoga.

Sloane Ranger’s chief competition figures to come from Rod’s Five Star, who is making his first start since finishing third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Sloane Ranger, in the LeVine. The 4-year-old Rod’s Five Star owns a 6-for-10 reord at Parx but is still seeking his first stakes win.

In the other stakes:

◗ Spring Dance, a 13-length winner of her career debut at Penn National, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, challenges mutlitple stakes winner Lotta Lovin in the $75,000 Dr. Theresa Garofalo Memorial for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs (race 7). Lotta Lovin, a three-time stakes winner last winter on Turfway Park’s Polytrack, will be cutting back from a win going 1 1/16 miles in the Malvern Rose over Presque Isle’s Tapeta surface and making her first start on dirt since finishing sixth in last November’s Blue Mountain at Penn National.

◗ Kyma, 34-1 upset winner of the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup in July, and Ricky’s Lite, 5 for 11 in turf sprints, are logical contenders in a 12-horse field for the $75,000 Marshall Jenney Handicap, a five-furlong turf sprint (race 8). The 4-year-old Kyma, 3 for 4 on turf, will be coming back just five days after running last throughout the Grade 3 Turf Monster Handicap. Ricky’s Lite, 5 for 10 on Parx’s turf course, will be making his first start since winning a second-level optional $25,000 claimer on July 24.

The field also includes the 5-year-old mare Noble Maz, who won the off-the-turf version of the Marshall Jenney last year and took the $100,000 Mrs. Penny two years ago when it was contested at five furlongs on turf.

◗ Gondwanan, returning to dirt after a pair of third-place stakes finishes on turf and Tapeta, is the lukewarm choice in the $75,000 Roanoke at 1 1/16 miles (race 9). His 10 rivals include the 3-year-old Relay Bill, who returns to the main track after upsetting the Capital City at 22-1 in his first start around two turns and on turf.