Someday Jones no cinch to repeat in Robellino

Someday Jones must overcome post 11 and rivals Fast and Accurate and Beyond Smart to win the $100,000 Robellino for the second year in a row Sunday at Penn National.

The Robellino, which will be run over 1 1/16 miles on turf, is for 3-year-olds and up bred in Pennsylvania. It will share a card with the $100,000 Lyphard.

Someday Jones was a two-length winner of last year’s Robellino when it was run on the main track in August. He will be making just his second start on the grass as he returns to the statebred stakes ranks on Sunday. His two most recent starts came against allowance company at Parx, with a runner-up finish at one mile and 70 yards on April 6 and a nose win on March 2 going a mile in the mud. Frankie Pennington has the mount on Someday Jones, a son of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones. He is trained by John Servis, who also conditioned Smarty Jones.

Fast and Accurate should go favored following a runner-up finish in a turf allowance at Keeneland in April for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97. It’s the best last-race turf number in the Robellino. Fast and Accurate was a Grade 3 winner on the synthetic earlier in his career, capturing the 2017 Spiral at Turfway Park.

Tyler Conner has the mount on Fast and Accurate from trainer Mike Maker.

Beyond Smart, who has won over the turf course at Penn National, is a two-time stakes winner and a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Bricks and Mortar. Beyond Smart invades from Presque Isle, where he won an optional-claiming route by three lengths on May 16.

Driven to Compete invades from Belmont Park, where he was fourth after pressing the pace in a $62,500 optional-claiming race run at a mile over good turf on May 18. Driven to Compete won over Pennsylvania-bred rivals last April at Parx. Edwin Gonzalez has the mount for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Imply will be looking for her second consecutive win in the Lyphard, a 1 1/16-mile turf race restricted to fillies and mares bred in Pennsylvania. She is 3 for 4 over the local turf course, and is a four-time stakes winner. Julio Hernandez has the mount on Imply, who comes off an optional $62,500 claiming route win at Presque Isle.

Perennial makes her first start since December in the Lyphard. She is a daughter of Flower Alley and the mare Retraceable, who was a stakes winner of $370,564.