PEN Mile (Grade 3)- $400.000 Purse
PEN- For Three Year Olds
One Mile on the Turf
May 31, 2024

There is purse money to be won at PEN this Friday, as the 11th running of the PEN Mile takes place. This is a nice race for three-year-olds on the grass, and our field will feature several that ran in the BC Juvenile Turf last fall. The $400.000 purse is in line with where it has been over the last two years, but the race did receive a class downgrade, having been a Grade 2 since Clockwork Chai’s win in 2017. Last year, there was a dead heat for the top spot between Arindel’s Greeks Get It and the Mb Stables- owned Drinkin Creepin. They’ve gone different ways since then, with Drinkin Creepin staying hot, winning the BC Turf Sprint and presently riding a four race winning streak. Greeks Get It only has one win since then, and has been a non factor more often than not. There was only five in this race last year, so it’s good to see the field size doubling in 2024. Let’s take a look at our field:

1- Classy City (Asgar, ridden by P Lopez)- We get this started with the reigning BC Juvenile Turf winner. It was one of three victories on the year for the Class Edge gelding, and he has been back on the track three times since. He did win an optional claimer to start the year, but afterwards the weather has not cooperated with the trainer’s plans, and he has raced on soft turf twice. The results certainly were not terrible, but he is hoping for a nice day on Friday. He should get it.

2- Trouble Brewing (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by A Jimenez)- Purchased a few weeks after winning the OT Juvenile Turf, and would debut for the trainer in the BC Juvenile Turf. He made a positive impression in that, running third and was only half a length behind Classy City. However, things have not been pretty for him since then, as his only earnings in the five races that followed came from finishing fourth in the Kittens Joy. His last two outings have been poor but have come on off tracks.

3- Foxy Devil (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- Was narrowly defeated by Trouble Brewing in the OT Juvenile Turf, and that may have been when Maxmillion Farm decided he needed to have that one. Foxy Devil also ran in the BC but ran in the middle of the field in the Juvenile Turf. That’s the last time he has been in a graded stake, though he’s won two of his last four, highlighted by the $125.000 Cutler Bay from GP.

4- Diamond Haggis (Fractious, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Won the highly competitive Grade Summer Stakes at WO last fall, earning him his spot in the BC Juvenile Turf. He picked up the fourth-place check there and a month later, former trainer Arkansas Elite picked up another check: one for $300.000 from Fractious. He’s been good since, with one win and two seconds in his four starts, all coming at the graded level. This includes the Transylvania and American Turf on soft going, where he was narrowly defeated at the wire by the one we’re about to get too.

5- Fanatical Empire (Smokey Stover, ridden by Mario Gutierrez)- He’s gotten his picture taken with Diamond Haggis in his last two races, but in each of them, it was Fanatical Empire getting the victory. Now, he’ll get his chance to show that he can beat that one on a dry track as well. Fanatical Empire is presently riding a four-race winning streak which began with breaking his maiden in November. So, he was not able to get his chance in the BC like the previous four horses, but he’s at his best right now. All four of those wins have been a photo, which should speak highly of his stretch desire.

6- Woodsmoke (Acber Farms, ridden by G W Corbett)- After breaking his maiden, Woodsmoke was entered into the Grade 1 Summer Stakes, but struggled in the race and has not had another chance to run at this level until now. In the meantime, we have been seeing him in overnights, and then a couple of ungraded stakes at TUP, where he won both the Kruytbosch and the Wildcat Stakes at very different distances. There’s no reason to think that those victories cannot lead him into having success here, and he deserves the opportunity.

7- Free Agent (Fractious, ridden by F Prat)- One of the good things about being one of the game’s top trainers is that you can keep entering a horse like Free Agent into graded stakes while coming away with nothing. Free Agent ate up a lot of nomination fees during KYD preps but struggled in them. Perhaps he just didn’t like running on the main track, as he was moved to the turf for his last race and won the $100.000 Singletary Stakes at SA. He’s going to need to show that he can keep doing that.

8- Children Of The Sod (Onlineracingclub.com, ridden by F Geroux)- The trainer has opted to run this filly against the boys here in the PEN Mile, and that will get Children Of The Sod a five-pound weight allowance. That can help, but I’d like her chances more if she was having more success against her own gender. She ran in several KYO preps and was more productive in them than Free Agent was in KYD preps but didn’t stand out. Mixed in with those are two turf races, each of which she won. Comes here off an optional claiming win at CD with Geroux aboard.

9- Encryptic (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- A lightly raced horse that was claimed by Mb Stables in a maiden claimer back in December for $20.000. Since then, she has raced twice, both in attempts to break her maiden and she would accomplish that last month at TAM. She’s getting quite a test here off of that, but nothing Mb Stables does should ever be doubted. That said, I need to see it first.

10- Whoda Thunk It (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by R M Hernandez)- Broke her maiden on debut, but then struggled in the two ungraded races that she was entered into right after it. On the track, she hasn’t really turned the corner, and while she is not working badly, they don’t wow me, either. Perhaps the best works are from the farm, but I will be looking past this one.

Prediction: 5-4-1-6

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES