July 7, 2016

Good ground at PRX on Fourth of July Monday did not any of the six entrants from running in the Grade III Penny Memorial Handicap and Mentioned Honorably was certainly up to the task over the course, running away from her rivals en route to a 2.5-length win that looked much easier than that. A five-year-old daughter of top class sire Wild Chippy, she was a Grade I winner last year in the Flower Bowl and notched her second win of the campaign here, pushing closer to $1500.000 in the process while putting herself back in the mix for a start in the BC F&M Turf.

Tidal Wave (*1.80) broke sharply and led the field out of the PRX chute in the Penny Memorial but Mentioned Honorably (2.00) quickly took her to task and those two moved out front with Track Star (3.25) a settled in third. The favourite quickly asserted herself as her rival took back and through the opening fraction in 24.02, everyone seemed to find a nice spot with Summer Storm (6.20) taking up the back marker but only five-lengths from the top spot. Mentioned Honorably almost dropped back to last around the first turn as Track Star stalked pacesetter Tidal Wave and while Love Me Do (14.20) sat nicely in third, the first half-mile of 47.97 was well within the scope of the leader, even over a good turf. The field began to bunch again as Mentioned Honorably found new wind out wide and came on to engage Track Star and that forced the hand of everyone else through six-furlongs in 1:11.68. Turning for home, the longtime leader was all but done and threw in the towel as Mentioned Honorably rocketed to the lead and from there, it was a battle for second between Track Star and Love Me Do before Earthly Gran (17.30) came running up the inside rail to pip them both. Tidal Wave faded when it counted to finish fifth while Summer Storm had nothing and wound up last over the good ground behind a no-doubt-about-it winner who toyed with easier rivals on this day.

Mentioned Honorably was good enough to compete in the BEL Oaks in only her third career start and became a Grade I winner last year so a victory in the Grade III Penny Memorial was not without merit and she simply ran away from the field to record her second win of the season. Less than firm ground has certainly been kind to her over the past year and the standard course would be a start in the Grade I Diana, although she might wait for the Beverly D at AP or take a more conservative approach with a start in the Victoriana at WO against state-breds.

Congratulations goes out to owner Mb Stables and their five-year-old mare Mentioned Honorably, a going-away winner of the Grade III Penny Memorial Handicap at PRX!

Prediction                           Summer Storm / Tidal Wave / Mentioned Honorably

Winner                                Mentioned Honorably

                                               Five-year-old bay mare

                                               Wild Chippy-Avellians Honor (Auto-Generated)

Owner                                  Mb Stables

Time                                      24.02, 47.97, 1:11.68, 1:41.32

Overall

Mentioned Honorably      2.00 broke well, dropped back, came charging

Earthly Gran                        17.30 slow into stride, solid late run

Love Me Do                          14.20 midpack early, mild late run

Track Star                             3.25 pressed, even effort

Tidal Wave                           *1.80 set solid splits, faded

Summer Storm                     6.20 no late momentum

Triple T Racing 🙂

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES