Switching to sythentic, Oscar's Hope meets other shippers in Tom Ridge

Presque Isle Downs might seem like a smaller track – blink and you’ll miss the exit in Erie, Pa. However, it is an important destination for horses seeking good purses in a specific niche. Presque Isle and Woodbine in Ontario are the only major synthetic-surface tracks offering a scheduled stakes program, until Turfway Park in Kentucky opens late this year. Gulfstream Park has an all-weather surface, as will the new Belmont Park when it debuts in September; however, neither has stakes scheduled on those surfaces, with the synthetics serving as a backup for the dirt and turf courses.

Presque Isle opened its meet on May 18, and runs through Oct. 22. The first stakes race of this season is the $100,000 Tom Ridge Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters on Monday night, and the entry box shows the popularity of the track. The Tom Ridge has drawn an overflow field of 13, with 12 permitted to start, and the favorites come from a variety of backgrounds. The morning-line choice is Oscar’s Hope, a consistent son of the versatile Twirling Candy. He will try a synthetic track for the first time after winning multiple stakes sprinting on dirt. Next on the morning line are Chasing Freedom, most recently third in the Paradise Creek on the Aqueduct turf; and Small Town, a stakes-placed winner on Turfway Park’s Tapeta this year.

The Tom Ridge is the first of 13 stakes at Presque Isle during this five-month season. The track’s marquee card comes on Sept. 18, with five stakes worth a combined $725,000. Those are led by the Grade 2, $200,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters, for fillies and mares sprinting. The race, inaugurated in 2007, has been won by Eclipse Award divisional champions and Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winners Informed Decision (2009-2010), Musical Romance (2011), and Groupie Doll (2012-2013).

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