And now, he has a Grade 2 win on the ledger. A Grade 2 win coming at 83/1.

Behind a masterful ride by jockey Tyler Conner, Wow Whata Summer captured the $400,000 Penn Mile, the flagship event on Penn National. The 1 ¼-length victory came at the expense of the race’s prohibitive favorite: 1/2 Annapolis, who finished second.

80-1 Wow Whata Summer takes the G2 Penn Mile @HollywoodPenn! Congrats to all connections Jockey @tyler_conner519 Trainer James Lawrence & Owner Jeremy Brooks.

More to come from Penn National at //t.co/nBYFHj6ufh! pic.twitter.com/7XymlxqLmF

— TVG (@TVG) June 3, 2022

This set up the predictable wild payouts. Wow Whata Summer paid $168.60 to win, $27 to place and $12 to show on a $2 wager. The $1 trifecta with 16.80/1 pace-setter Uncaptured Spirit finishing two lengths behind Annapolis in third, paid $1,485.30.

Wow Whata Summer, Conner saved ground

Uncaptured Spirit set the table for Conner and Wow Whata Summer’s monster upset. He threw out a 24.08-second opening quarter-mile en route to a two length backstretch lead. After a 49.50 half-mile, Conner had seen enough. He steered Wow Whata Summer down the rail and passed Uncaptured Spirit coming out of the backstretch into the turn.

And that was essentially that. Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Annapolis, turned the favorite loose, trying to catch the suddenly loose-on-the-lead Wow Whata Summer. But previously unbeaten Annapolis, coming in off an eight-month layoff, didn’t have the stamina to finish the job.

Home track Jockey Tyler Conner brought Wow Whata Summer in for the win in the Grade II Penn Mile! pic.twitter.com/c31qPwqG8M

— PennHorseRacing (@PennHorseRacing) June 4, 2022

While Wow Whata Summer wasn’t the longest shot on the eight-horse board; that was 85.50/1 last-place finisher Noneedtoworry, he was about as improbable a winner as it gets. This gelding came into the Penn Mile 1-for-6. And that �?�?came in his debut at Colonial Downs last summer.

Backed into his first official victory

In that five-furlong maiden special weight, Wow Whata Summer got bumped by Capt. Candy coming around the turn. Jockey Feargal Lynch filed an inquiry that was upheld by the stewards and Wow Whata Summer had his maiden-breaking win.

He did not finish better than third in his next five races. But one of those, the start before the Penn Mile, did give glimpses of the gelding’s latent talent. He finished a solid third in an April 23, 5 ½-furlong Laurel Park allowance, clocking a then-career best 95 Equibase Speed Figure. That was 17 points better than his previous bests, a trio of 78s.

Well, that’s enough Penn National for me until at least next year’s Penn Mile Day. Maybe longer.

— Andrew Champagne (@AndrewChampagne) June 3, 2022

And suddenly, the gelding who couldn’t fetch $24,000 just banked almost 10 times that: $232,800, for his Penn Mile score. The Summer Front progeny now has a 2-0-2 record in seven races with $296,000 in the bank.

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Hollywood Talent waited a long time for his first graded-stakes score, which came in his 52^nd career race. The 10-year-old gelding finished third in this five-furlong sprint two years ago, his first in-the-money finish in a graded stakes since he finished third in the 2013 Grade 2 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga. The previous month, Hollywood Talent finished second in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs.

On Saturday, Hollywood Talent pulled off the monster of all upsets in the Turf Monster. Seventh in the nine-horse field at the three-sixteenths post, jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. brought Hollywood Talent into third entering the stretch. Shortly thereafter, he rolled past leaders Admiral Abe and Firecrow, and pulled away for a 1 ¼-length victory over Beer Can Man. Admiral Abe held on for third.

This brought a monster payday to bettors holding Hollywood Talent atop their Turf Monster tickets. He paid $219.20, $55.40 and $19. A $2 exacta with Hollywood Talent and 4/1 Beer Can Man paid $1,029.60. The 50-cent trifecta with 27.50/1 Admiral Abe returned $2,586.45.

Hollywood Talent beat Bobby Flay

Your two 1.80/1 favorites, Carotari and Caravel — owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay – tied for sixth, 4 ¼ lengths behind.

“I am not surprised,�?trainer Juan Vazquez told Parx Racing after the race. “I have been waiting for this race all year. He was third in the Monster (in 2019) and I knew I could win this race. There was a lot of speed in this race, and I sent [him] from behind and, really, felt very well. I liked it. I liked the soft ground.�?/p>

As you would expect from a hard-raced, 10-year-old gelding, Hollywood Talent has made the rounds. He’s 1-1-1 in five starts this year, with the $168,000 payday for his Turf Monster score accounting for 90% of his 2021 earnings. The son of Talent Search came in with only $18,342 in season earnings.

He was the favorite in his last victory

It also gave Hollywood Talent his first victory in 367 days, or since his Sept. 23, 2020 score in a Delaware Park claimer. There, he went off as the 1.40/1 favorite, scoring a 1 ¼-length victory.

For that, he got claimed for $8,000 by King Star Racing. And from there, he lost his next six races, hitting the board in three of them (0-1-2) �?all starter allowances.

Now, Vazquez has Hollywood Talent pointed toward bigger game like a certain two-day, American marquee racing event held this year at Del Mar in November.

We have a proud — and ambitious — trainer here

“We might try the Breeders’ Cup (Turf Sprint). He is a 10-year-old and I try to take care of him the best that I can,�?Vazquez said.

Hollywood Talent’s Turf Monster win gave him 12 victories in 52 starts. He’s banked earnings of $635,071.

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Will either Hot Rod Charlie or Midnight Bourbon finally get that elusive Grade 1 victory?

If either one of them breaks their Grade 1 schnide, Saturday at Parx is probably the time and the place they break it. There is no Essential Quality, no Mandaloun, no Medina Spirit to torment either of the two 3-year-olds, who are clearly the front-runners here in more ways than one.

This year’s $1 million Penn Derby features a field of eight �?down from 10 with the scratches of Medina Spirit and Keepmeinmind. Medina Spirit, the initial 2/1 favorite, scratched after trainer Bob Baffert didn’t like his outside post 9. Trainer Robertino Diodoro scratched Keepmeinmind Friday after he suffered an abscess in his left front foot.

“It’s just bad timing,�?Diodoro told Parx. “He trained like a monster (Thursday) and we needed the pony to get him of the track; he was feeling so good. This is definitely disappointing, but the main thing is the horse is going to be OK. Terrible timing.�?/p>

Parx gets its day in the sun Saturday

The remaining eight will travel 1 1/8 miles in the featured race on Parx’s marquee race day. The suburban Philadelphia track offers eight stakes �?five graded �?and $3.4 million in combined purses. The Penn Derby is one of two Grade 1s, with the Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies being the other.

Those eight follow the hoofprints of recent Penn Derby winners, such as McKinzie (2018), West Coast (2017), Frosted (2015), Bayern (2014) and Will Take Charge (2012). Bayern set the track record, beating Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome in a race that put the Penn Derby on the map for horsemen. For good measure, Bayern beat him again in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, giving Baffert the first of his three consecutive Classic titles. Both Will Take Charge and West Coast won Eclipse Awards as Champion 3-Year-Old Male.

That’s where Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon come in. Hot Rod Charlie inherited 5/2 morning-line favorite status when Baffert pulled 2/1 Medina Spirit out. You’ll remember his last outing, that infamous Haskell Stakes victory that wasn’t, after Hot Rod Charlie was taken down for interfering with Midnight Bourbon in the stretch.

Hot Rod Charlie as consistent as they come

That erased what would have been his first victory since he took the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby in March. Hot Rod Charlie’s demotion to seventh marked the first time he missed the board in eight races, spanning 10 months. And yet, despite more than $1.5 million in earnings, a narrow miss in the Belmont Stakes, and a stellar record in graded stakes (1-2-2 in six starts), Hot Rod Charlie lacks a Grade 1.

“He has shown up in every big race we have had him in,�?trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He has been very honest, and, gosh, I just feel so lucky and blessed to be connected with him. He is just a real cool, blue-collar solid horse.�?/p>

Expect that “blue-collar horse�?to establish early speed with his Haskell nemesis: Midnight Bourbon (5/1). Both are front-runners who like being on �?or near �?the lead.

The clock strikes 12 on Midnight Bourbon in the stretch

Midnight Bourbon held the lead when Rombauer reeled him in at the sixteenth pole in the Preakness. He led the Travers through the first mile of the 1 ¼-mile test, before Essential Quality caught him with three-sixteenths to go and beat him by a neck. And he led the opening quarter-mile of the Louisiana Derby before Hot Rod Charlie passed him and O Besos nearly did at the wire.

Detect a trend here? Midnight Bourbon hasn’t won since the Grade 3 Lecomte in January. That was six races ago. There is no quibbling with Midnight Bourbon’s grinder mentality; he never takes a race off and you’ll see him on the lead here from the outset.

That said, putting aside his decent sixth in the Kentucky Derby and his DNF due to Hot Rod Charlie’s interference at Monmouth Park, Midnight Bourbon put himself in the box of good, but not great, colts.

This is his best chance to escape that box.

Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby/Parx

Morning Line (Jockey/Trainer)

1. Fulsome, 12/1 (Florent Geroux/Brad Cox)
2. Keepmeinmind, SCR
3. Speaker’s Corner, 12/1 (Jose Ortiz/Bill Mott)
4. Weyburn, 12/1 (Paco Lopez/Jimmy Jerkens)
5. I Am Redeemed, 20/1 (Abner Adorno/Penny Pearce)
6. Bourbonic, 12/1 (Kendrick Carmouche/Todd Pletcher)
7. Hot Rod Charlie, 5/2 (Flavien Prat/Doug O’Neill)
8. Midnight Bourbon, 5/1 (Ricardo Santana Jr./Steve Asmussen)
9. Medina Spirit, SCR
10. Americanrevolution, 15/1 (Luis Saez/Todd Pletcher)

There are two others worth noting who could keep both Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon Grade 1-less. The first is Speaker’s Corner (12/1), who defines “lightly raced.�?The Street Sense colt is 2-0-1 in his three career races �?the lightest-raced colt in the field. But after breaking his maiden in his second try at Belmont Park last October, Speaker’s Corner tore apart a Saratoga August allowance by 5 ¼ lengths.

That Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott turns him loose in a solid Grade 1 coming out of that speaks loudly about Speaker’s Corner. That Speaker’s Corner gets a fast pace to run into speaks loudly about his chances here �?even vaulting into this deep pool.

Don’t be surprised by a Penn Derby upset

The second to watch is another Grade 1 rookie: Fulsome (12/1). The Into Mischief colt comes in 5-for-7 and 3-for-his-last-4 (3-0-1). Two of those wins came in Grade 3s: the Matt Winn at Churchill Downs in May and the Street Sense here at Parx last month. Fulsome was the 3/5 favorite in that latter race, the prep for the Penn Derby.

What makes Fulsome a quiet threat here is his closing style. In a race where Hot Rod Charlie, Midnight Bourbon, Americianrevolution and Weyburn figure to fly out of the gate, he can smash and grab at least a piece here â€�?if not more — should things break right.

The pick: Speaker’s Corner. This pace sets up perfectly for a colt who waltzed to a 107 Equibase Speed Figure in his last start. He was highly regarded from the outset and his late-finishing kick and pure speed find the right scenario to flourish. Plus, you get all that at a price you won’t get with the two favorites. That said, do not leave Hot Rod Charlie off your tickets. He has more tactical speed that Midnight Bourbon �?a lesson we’ve seen time and time again this year.

The post Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon Seek Grade 1 Glory in Penn Derby appeared first on nrxhb.shop | OG News.

Medina Spirit drew post 9 in the 10-horse Pennsylvania Derby field. That put his two chief competitors, Hot Rod Charlie (5/2) and Midnight Bourbon (5/1) directly inside of him. This unsettled Baffert to the point where he decided shipping the colt to Pennsylvania with that post didn’t make sense.

“I don’t like the way he drew, I wasn’t happy with the draw,�?Baffert told the Albany Times Union’s Tim Wilkin. “I didn’t like the way the race was setting up. There is too much speed. It’s a tough race. I have a lot of respect for the other two horses. There is not much separating them, but I would be at a disadvantage. That’s why I’m passing.�?/p>

Hot Rod Charlie, running his first race since being disqualified for interference in the Haskell Stakes 2-½ months ago, is in post 7. He likely becomes the new favorite. Midnight Bourbon, the victim of Hot Rod Charlie’s interference, drew post 8.

Penn Derby pace didn’t fit Baffert’s eye

All three horses like setting the pace or being near the lead. That set up the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby to be a test of who would blink first. And if all three blinked, which closer would pick up the pieces?

Bob Baffert on pulling Medina Spirit from Pa Derby: "I don't like to put them on a plane unless I feel real good about it. Medina looks good, I just don't like the way the race was setting up. I feel part of my success is knowing when to run and doing what's right for the horse."

— Tim Wilkin (@tjwilkin) September 21, 2021

Instead, Baffert said he’ll send Medina Spirit out against older horses in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita Park opening weekend on Oct. 2. That would be the first time the son of Protonico faced anyone outside his age group.

If he runs well there, Baffert said the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar is the likely next stop.

Medina Spirit is 3-for-7 this year

Medina Spirit last ran on Aug. 29 in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, where he scored his third victory of 2021. All three wins were stakes races, joining the Robert B. Lewis and the Derby on the ledger. That Shared Belief victory came after a 3-½-month layoff, stemming from his third in the Preakness Stakes.

“Medina looks good. I just don’t like the way the race was setting up,�?Baffert told Wilkin. “I feel part of my success is knowing when to run and doing what’s right for the horse.�?/p>

Medina Spirit wasn’t the only horse Baffert benched from Parx’s signature weekend. He scratched filly Private Mission from the Penn Derby’s sister race, the Grade 1 Cotillion, where she was 9/2. Baffert told Wilkin Private Mission will stay home in California and run the Grade 2 Zenyatta at Santa Anita.

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The track announced its 2021 fall stakes schedule on Tuesday. The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, one of the fall’s signature 3-year-old races, headlines the Saturday, Sept. 25 card. Along with the $1 million Cotilion, which sends 3-year-old fillies 1 1/16 miles, the 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby anchors a nine-stakes card that day.

“Other tracks have had a lot of success both from a wagering standpoint and being able to create a buzz running several of their major races on the same card,�?said David Osojnak, Parx’s director of racing, in a statement. “The goal is to continue to expand the Pennsylvania Derby/Cotillion card into one of the premier days in the fall racing schedule.�?/p>

Six of the day’s stakes are graded. Along with the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion, Parx will offer the Grade 2 Gallant Bob, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, and three Grade 3s. Those are the Turf Monster (five furlongs on turf for 3-year-olds and up), the Dr. James Penny Memorial (fillies and mares 3-and-up going 1 1/16 miles), and the Greenwood Cup (3-and-up going 1 ½ miles).

Combined, the six graded stakes offer $3 million in purses.

Pennsylvania Derby victim of scheduling

Last year, Parx’s two Grade 1 events were casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the two races hit the sidelines because of pandemic-related scheduling fallout. The revamped 2020 fall Triple Crown schedule — with the Kentucky Derby running in early September and the Preakness on the first Saturday in October — meant there was no room on the schedule for the Pennsylvania Derby.

The Pennsylvania Derby is one of those races that draws respectable fields given its fall place on the schedule. Going into last year, it drew the Kentucky Derby champion twice since 2014. That record doesn’t include standouts like 2018 winner McKinzie, 2017 champion West Coast and 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern. He beat Kentucky Derby champion California Chrome that year.

Along with that stellar card, Parx will offer 12 Pennsylvania-bred races, and all of those stakes will run Lasix-free this year. The track banned the anti-bleeding medication for all its graded stakes races this year.

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