Pennine Ridge
1 1/16 Mile InTurf Graded Stake Purse $300.00 Three-Year-Olds. At SAR.

The Pennine Ridge. Welcome to Dan’sWorld. Here’s a race designed for turf horses. You open it for entries; you expect to see turf horses in the entry box. Well, the Pennine Ridge got six entries: four turf horses and two dirt horses. Mb Stables entered two horses that between them have one turf race this year. And to make matters all the more laughable, they are my choice for exacta. To be fair, though, Joykiller has won two races in his life and they have both been turf, so I guess you’d have to say he’s a turf horse. In any event, it looks like it will be a battle between the two Mb Stables horses with possible contention from Kuykendahl, the true turf horse. Here’s the field:                     

Horse                                  Owner                               Odds  SRF

Joykiller                             Mb Stables                         *6-5        89

Wealthy B Wonka               Mb Stables                          4-1        90

Wolfman Jack                      Spankys Barn                  10-1        94

Kuykendahl                        Luz International                 2-1        94

Castiglione                         Royalty Stables                  6-1        86

Ideal Candidate                  Aer Stables                          8-1        86

 1   Joykiller                Mb Stables                     89

Joykiller was outrun in the KYD, but that was only the sixth race of his life and his races coming up to the Derby were impressive, finishing a deep-closing third in the Grade I FL Derby and a deep-closing second in the Grade II Fountain of Youth Stakes and two of his remaining three races were wins including a victory in the $150.00 Kittens Joy on turf at GP. To make things all the sweeter, Joykiller is undefeated on the grass and posted a 1:35 flat on AQU turf on May 16. Nice credentials, and he can bounce back from the KYD.

2   Wealthy B Wonka                     Mb Stables                     90

Wealthy B Wonka skipped the KYD because his stable was so loaded with Derby eligibles that he was forced to sit on the bench. He earned plenty of points for the Derby and sat it out to give the Grade III Peter Pan a shot which did not go so well. Still, he has the class to be a factor here. Off a sparkling 1:34 3/5 bullet at AQU ay 17   

3   Kuykendahl                           Luz International                94

Every race in Kuykendahl’s life has been on turf, so he would see much more likely the favourite in this field based on his dedication to turf. He has won four of eight races on turf, including the $100.00 TX Turf mile at HOU.

4   Ideal Candidate                       Aer Stables              86

Ideal Candidate is a big-time turf horse that broke his maiden in the $100.00 Speaker Stakes at SA, He stepped off the grass to give the KYD qualification tour a shot in the Grade II LA Derby. It didn’t go well. Back to turf..

5   Wolfman Jack                 Spankys Barn                 94

Wolfman Jack: my longshot chance in here. Lightly raced with only three starts, all on grass, but well-bred and won a big-ticket maiden on turf at second asking, so I reckon a decent future where surface won’t matter much, but he’s already well proven and worked 1:35 1/5 at SA on May 19.

6   Castiglione                   Royalty Stables               86

I thought Castiglione was coming along just fine on dirt, but his trainer spotted something that made him switch over to turf and sure enough, he won straight away. He came back from that win to register a nice third in a big-ticket CD turf allowance, so now the natural progression to a turf stakes,

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