Regal Glory brings class edge to strong Penn Mile undercard

The 12-race Penn Mile program at Penn National on Saturday includes eight consecutive stakes beginning with race 4. The supporting stakes are topped by the $200,000 Penn Oaks, which will have possibly the shortest-priced favorite of the day in Regal Glory.

The card, which begins at 2:45 p.m. Eastern, includes six $100,000 stakes, four of which are part of the MATCH Series, and two stakes for Pennsylvania-breds.

The races have drawn a number of popular regional horses such as Call Paul, who will be heavily bet as he drops into statebred company, and Laurel Park-stabled Laki, who will be making his first start since earning a 108 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes.

One of the best undercard races is the Penn Ladies Dash, a six-furlong stakes for fillies and mares that will match Ms Locust Point, Yorkiepoo Princess, Cairenn, and Penn National-based Crabcakes, a winner of 9 of 16 starts who will be making her first start of the year.

The Penn Oaks is slotted as race 10 and immediately precedes the Grade 2 Penn Mile. Regal Glory, trained by Chad Brown, comes into the one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies off runner-up efforts in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland and the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park. Those results lay over the accomplishments of her six expected rivals.

In her two other starts, both at age 2, Regal Glory won a maiden turf sprint in her debut at Belmont Park and the Stewart Manor over six furlongs on turf at Aqueduct.

Ionic could be the second choice for Arnaud Delacour. The City Zip filly won a 1 1/16-mile turf race at Tampa Bay Downs in her debut and was beaten a nose at Laurel Park in an optional claimer last time out.

Ujjayi, stabled at Penn with trainer Erin McCLellan, is cross-entered in the New Start Stakes for statebred 3-year-old fillies and the Oaks. McCLellan said Thursday that Ujjayi, who won the Ruthless at Aqueduct in January, would most likely start in the Oaks.

Laki, who won the dirt-sprint division of the MATCH Series in 2018 for trainer Damon Dilodovico, got off to a good start this year by taking the first leg of the division, the Whiteley, by 3 1/2 lengths. He will be favored to take the second race of the series in the Chocolate Town Sprint, named for nearby Hershey, Pa.

Home Run Maker is one of four horses trainer Jeremiah Englehart will ship to Penn for Saturday races. Home Run Maker won three races in a row last fall and winter but has since finished sixth in the General George and fifth at 3-1 in the Whiteley. He could regain his best form in the six-furlong Chocolate Town.

“I think he ran a creditable race in the General George,” Englehart said. “He doesn’t really want the seven-eighths.

“He lost both his front shoes in his last race.”

Ms Locust Point held off the late-running Cairenn by a nose last time out in the Primonetta at Laurel. The Primonetta was the opening round of the filly-and-mare dirt-sprint division of the MATCH Series. Ms Locust Point held a three-length lead at the eighth pole of the six-furlong Primonetta and will likely be on the lead again when they are rematched in the Penn Ladies Dash.

Yorkiepoo Princess has been freshened by trainer Edward Barker since finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct in early April and should hit hard at this level off her “A” race.

Crabcakes is 2 for 2 at her home track and has run well fresh throughout her career for trainer Bernie Houghton.

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, a five-furlong turf race, has a field of five topped by Pure Sensation. Trainer Christophe Clement prefers a firm course for the 8-year-old winner of just less than $1.6 million.

Completed Pass, who won the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico two weeks ago, is the second choice in the field. He is stabled at Laurel with Claudio Gonzalez.

The Susquehanna, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, has drawn a competitive field of seven. Dynatail, who won a Keeneland allowance in her seasonal debut and then finished sixth two weeks ago in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico, is the likely favorite for trainer Mike Dini.

The Danzig and New Start are six-furlong races for Pennsylvania-breds. Call Paul, a winner of four of eight starts for Jason Servis, will be dipping into the statebred stakes ranks for the second time. He won the Pennsylvania Nursery at Parx by five lengths last December. His other wins include the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and Grade 3 Swale.

Ultimate Mo, whom D. Wayne Lukas ships in from Kentucky for the New Start, is coming off a five-length first-level optional-claiming victory in the slop at Churchill Downs. Luis Saez has the mount.