Strong sophomore slate set for Penn Mile

Eight 3-year-olds, including Global View and Storming Inti, the one-two finishers May 3 in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes at Churchill, were entered Wednesday in the $500,000 Penn Mile.

Add to the Global View-Storming Inti rematch two more high-quality sophomore grass horses, Bobby’s Kitten and Divine Oath, and the second edition of the Penn Mile has even more substance than a gold inaugural running last year, when Rydilluc beat Charming Kitten and Jack Milton.

The Penn Mile is one of four six-figure stakes worth $950,000 on the Saturday night card at Penn National. The major races all are loaded onto the front of a card with first post scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Eastern. Race 1 is the first running of the $100,000 Penn Oaks; race 2 is the $150,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup; race 3 is the $200,000 Mountainview Handicap; and race 4, with a scheduled post of 7:31, is the Penn Mile.

The Penn Oaks, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, and the Penn Mile are grass races, while the Mountainview for older horses at 1 1/8 miles is a dirt race. The turf was rated soft for the card May 24 but should be drier for Saturday’s races. There was a slight chance of rain in south-central Pennsylvania through Friday night, but Saturday is forecasted to be clear with a high in the mid-70s.

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The full Penn Mile field, from the rail out with jockeys, is Global View (Gary Stevens), Sing the Dream (William Otero), Laddie Boy (Chris Landeros), Bobby’s Kitten (Javier Castellano), Storming Inti (Alan Garcia), Mr. Brioni (Kendrick Carmouche), Coastline (Stewart Elliott), and Divine Oath (Chris DeCarlo).

Global View rallied from eighth in the American Turf to beat front-running Storming Inti by a neck and should have even more pace at which to aim Saturday evening. Storming Inti is one of two entrants trained by Chad Brown, and the other, Bobby’s Kitten, has even more pace than Storming Inti. Laddie Boy, who makes his turf debut, should help ensure a good early and middle tempo. Divine Oath, trained by Todd Pletcher, most recently finished second over the Polytrack in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and is 2 for 2 in his grass starts.

The Mountainview will be the 2014 debut for Last Gunfighter, who won five stakes and finished a respectable fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic during a highly productive 2013 campaign. Taptowne, Golden Ticket, and Percussion are the best known of his seven rivals.

Twelve horses were entered in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, a turf sprint, but regional standout Ben’s Cat is not among them and apparently will race instead June 7 in the $300,000 Jaipur at Belmont. The 2013 winner, Tightend Touchdown, will return.

Ready to Act and Aurelia’s Belle head the eight 3-year-old fillies entered in the first running of the $100,000 Penn Oaks.

Penn National, a racino operated by Penn National Gaming, handled more than $3.6 million from all sources on the first Penn Mile program June 1, 2013. By comparison, all-sources handle on the card of June 8, 2013, was less than $1 million.