There are no mid-Atlantic stakes scheduled for this weekend — just regular ol’ racing in the region. Still, it raises some weekend questions, to wit:
- Can Bowie-based Miss Behaviour, trained by Phil Schoenthal, carry her speed a mile and earn her second graded win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess? She’s the 2-1 morning line favorite in the event for two year-old fillies. Who’s Miss Behavior? Check her out here.
- Can apprentice rider Victor Carrasco — on a recent hot streak with three-win outings on Wednesday and Thursday at Laurel — continue his winning ways and late-season push for an Eclipse Award? At the end of Thursday’s races, he was just one win off the national lead among apprentice riders. He has seven mounts on Saturday at Laurel — though none is, under current conditions, the morning line favorite.
- Can Jack’s the Won win his fourth straight at Penn National on Saturday night? The Florida-bred gelding, who’s won three in a row, is the 3-2 morning line favorite in a second-level/ optional claiming event in which he is entered for the tag of $25,000. Trained by Tim Kreiser, the son of Black Mambo has two wins and two seconds from four starts at Penn National.
- Will the hits keep on coming for Pennsylvania racing? Last week the bad news came from Parx, where an outbreak of equine herpesvirus has forced officials to quarantine two barns and prohibit shippers — and the result has been short fields and even short cards (Saturday and Sunday both have just eight races each). Earlier this week came the announcement from Harrisburg that, with the state’s Racing Commissions facing insolvency, some in the Legislature are seeking to spike them and have the state’s Gaming Control Board oversee racing. And finally, this morning came word of the arrest of three trainers and a track employee at Penn National on fraud charges.
- Will 42 be a charm for Patcharoany? The seven year-old gelded, West Virginia-bred son of Native Slew is winless in 41 career races, though he has finished second nine times. He’ll try it again on Saturday at Charles Town for breeder/trainer/owner Joe Stehr with Katie Crews in the irons; he’s 8-1 in the $5,000 maiden claimer.
Good luck this weekend!
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