Someday Jones highlights stakes-laden card

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association recently announced that the Pennsylvania-bred dual classic winner and champion Smarty Jones would return to stand in his home state for the 2019 breeding season, with a farm to be announced at a later date. Appropriately, the stallion’s connections will be active Saturday at Parx Racing with one of his sons on ‘Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races.’

The 11-race card is entirely for Pennsylvania-breds and features five $100,000 stakes.

Someday Jones goes for his second consecutive stakes victory in the Roanoke Stakes. The 5-year-old son of Smarty Jones was bred by Patricia Chapman, who along with late husband Roy Chapman campaigned Smarty Jones as a homebred at their Someday Farm. Now racing for Main Line Racing Stable and Alexandria Stable, Someday Jones is one of six stakes entries on the card for John Servis, who trained Smarty Jones.

Someday Jones has won 7 of 14 career starts. He knocked on the door last year with a runner-up effort to recently retired state stalwart Page McKenney in the Lyman Stakes at Parx. He then scored his first stakes victory in the Robellino Stakes against statebreds on Aug. 4 at Penn National, his first win from four starts this season. He stalked the pace set by Saratoga Jack in second, then pounced to win by two lengths. That was going the same 1 1/16-mile distance as the Roanoke. Frankie Pennington has a return call in Someday Jones.

Saratoga Jack, who held second in the Robellino, is back for another shot at Someday Jones and is drawn immediately inside him, in post 2 in the field of eight. Robellino third-place finisher Monongahela and fifth-place finisher Grasshoppin both return as well.

Servis will saddle another entrant for the Roanoke in Forest Fire, who has won back-to-back allowance races at Parx going one mile.

Navy Commander, trained by Robert Reid Jr., won the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth against open company, then finished seventh in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.

Also on Saturday’s card, the Mrs. Penny Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf drew an overflow field, with the streaking Sweet Bye and Bye leading an even-money coupled entry for Briardale Stable and trainer Steve Klesaris. The front-running filly has won all five of her starts this year, including the Crowd Pleaser Stakes going this 1 1/16-mile trip on the Parx turf.

Rose Tree comes into the Mrs. Penny off a victory in the Northern Fling Stakes on Presque Isle’s synthetic track. Stakes winner Imply finished second by a neck in last year’s edition of this race, and returns on Saturday.

The Banjo Picker Sprint Stakes has drawn the veteran campaigner Jaguar Poz, who comes off a victory in an optional-claiming event at Thistledown, his first win in seven starts this year. Trained by Ron Potts for breeder James Hess, Jaguar Poz has placed in stakes against open company.

The female counterpart to the Banjo Picker Sprint is the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial Stakes, where Zipper’s Hero goes for her third straight victory off a pair of optional-claiming victories at Parx and Laurel for trainer Edward Coletti Jr.

The five stakes on the card are rounded out by the Power by Far Stakes for turf sprinters. Advert, who finished third in this year’s Lyphard Stakes, cuts back in distance off an allowance-optional victory at Penn National.