Smart and Fancy also tough

Several of the 12 filly and mare turf sprinters in Friday night's $100,000 Jennie Wade Handicap at Penn National Race Course have good credentials. None, however, are quite as sparkling as those of Smart and Fancy.

Of the 14 lifetime wins on Smart and Fancy's resume, a remarkable 11 have come in stakes. She also finished second in two other six-figure turf sprints since last fall, missing by a nose in the $109,000 Xtra Heat Handicap at Belmont Park and finishing two lengths shy of the winner in the $200,000 Turf Amazon at Philadelphia Park.

The 6-year-old Smart and Fancy figures to be a short-priced favorite to add to her already-sterling record in the third running of the five-furlong Jennie Wade, one of three stakes that begin Penn National's Pennsylvania Governor's Cup Racing Festival. In addition to two other stakes worth $75,000 apiece on Friday's 10-race card, Penn will present four stakes on Saturday, highlighted by the $200,000 Governor's Cup.

Smart and Fancy, from the high-percentage barn of Tony Dutrow, will be reunited with jockey Jeremy Rose for the first time since finishing third in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap in February 2007. Early in her career, Smart and Fancy was ridden to three wins by Rose, including sprint stakes on the main track at Delaware and Laurel.

The few horses Dutrow has shipped to Penn National for stakes the past two seasons have all been heavily bet. He won with Officer Ipod at 4-5 in last fall's High Yield, but had to settle for second with Double Down Vinman at 1-5 in the 2008 Danzig and fourth with Intentional Fever, the 6-5 favorite in last year's Jennie Wade.

Smart and Fancy's stiffest challenge might come from Ahvee's Destiny - if she runs. Trainer Linda Rice cross-entered Ahvee's Destiny in Thursday's $70,000 Quick Call at Saratoga. In her most recent start, Ahvee's Destiny finished a head behind Smart and Fancy in The Very One Stakes at Pimlico two months ago.

Also meriting respect are Instrumentalist, winner of a second-level optional claimer at Churchill Downs; Cocktail Attire, winner of the P.G. Johnson turf sprint at the Meadowlands last fall; and Anofficerandalady, second in last year's Jennie Wade and no worse than second in 8 of 9 lifetime turf sprints.

The Jennie Wade goes as race 3 with post time scheduled for 7:34 p.m. Eastern.

*<.strong> Rose has another live stakes mount, aboard Winsome Guest for trainer Graham Motion, in the Red Carpet (race 1), a 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares. In five starts since coming to Motion from Bill Mott, Winsome Guest has recorded Beyer Speed Figures in the narrow range of 82 to 86 while winning twice and missing by a nose.

Her chief rival may be Opera Heroine, who led until deep stretch over a Delaware Park turf course that distinctly favored closers while making her first start since November.

* The Maryland-based Rocket Defense puts her 4-for-4 career record on the line in the six-furlong Femme Fatale for 3-year-old fillies (race 5).

Rocket Defense, trained by Dove Houghton, has the advantage of winning by wide margins in her two starts over the local main track.

Those who could spoil Rocket Defense's perfect record include the lightly raced Sophia, who is unbeaten in two starts for high-percentage trainer Steve Klesaris; Knockout Bertie, a winner of a first-level allowance open to older horses at Churchill Downs; and Sunday in Malibu, who returns to dirt for the first time since finishing second in the Sandpiper at Tampa Bay Downs last December.