Penny Memorial Handicap (Grade 3)- $200.000 Purse
PRX- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
July 6, 2020
It may be a Monday, but there is some stake action to talk about as a field of five will be taking part in the eighth running of the Grade 3 Penny Memorial Handicap. This race is run on the turf course, sending its female runners a mile and a sixteenth around the track. We will have last year’s winner looking to duplicate her performance as Twinny is back in action! The five year old has not won a race since her win in the 2019 Penny Memorial Handicap, but that can all change for her, here. Trainer Maxmillion Farm certainly hopes so! Let’s take a deeper look at her and as well as the rest of the field!
#1- Pink Kitten (Threshold, ridden by R J Rosado)- The trainer picked her up in a claimer for $16.000 (here at PRX) last April, and just two starts later, she was entered into Grade 2 Royal North, a race she nearly ended up winning, placing second in a photo. She continued to have close calls but no wins for longer then the trainer probably would have liked, but finally came through in the $125.000 License Fee, almost exactly one full year after she was claimed. In this race, she is about to go over a mile for the first time and is putting in good works for it!
#2- Fill The Void (Mb Stables, ridden by M J Sanchez)- The Noble Crusader filly had a successful period of time on the grass last year and into this one, and has hit the board in eight of her nine turf starts. Despite that, Mb Stables moved her to the main track this spring, and things did not pan out for her. She was not poor, but it does seem as though that she likes running on the turf a lot better. She has been at her best when running at about a mile, too, which is another reason to like her chances here.
#3- Kiwi Sunshine (Smokey Stover, ridden by J Bisono)- Here is the only three year old in the field, but as this is a handicap, there are no weight allowances for that. In fact, she is also the very slight high weight here. Winning the $110.000 Turf Distaff at TAM in late March is a reason for that, a race that at the time was her third consecutive. Most recently, she ran third in the Wonder Again, a Grade 3 at BEL.
#4- Twinny (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by F Pennington)- Last year, Twinny won in a field of five right here in this race. Now, she looks to defeat the same amount of rivals again while having the great F Pennington in the saddle, something she did not have in her favor last time. She has not won again since then, though narrowly missed out in the $500.000 Grade 3 KD Ladies Turf Sprint in September. This year, she has not hit the board in three starts, and comes off a fourth place run in an optional claimer at SA in April.
#5- Pennies (Arindel, ridden by A R Rodriguez)- A natural fit to win the Penny Memorial Handicap, but that’s the best thing she has going for her. She will run here on just nine days of rest, and it is going to be her fourth race since the middle of May. Overall, she has won just two of 21, and probably could use the breather.
Prediction: 2-1-3-4
— NS
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES
