66 nominated to Penn National holiday stakes
Racing at Penn National. Photo by The Racing Biz.
Penn National’s Holiday Racing Festival on November 27 attracted 66 nominations for its three signature stakes events, the $200,000 Fabulous Strike and $100,000 Swatara stakes, both for horses three-and-up as well the $100,000 Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies Stakes for two-year-old filly statebreds.
A total of 25 candidates were received for the six-furlong Fabulous Strike, headlined by Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) hero X Y Jet, trained by Jorge Navarro for owners Rockingham Ranch and Gelfenstein Farm. Other graded stakes winners nominated to the marquee race on the card are 2017 Champagne (G1) victor Firenze Fire, owned by Mr. Amore Stable and trained by Jason Servis; Nicodemus who took the Westchester (G3) at Belmont Park earlier this year for trainer Linda Rice and owners Everything’s Cricket Racing and Lawrence Goichman; as well as Recruiting Ready, the Sagamore Farm homebred conditioned by Stanley Hough who added a win in the Gulfstream Park Sprint (G3) to his resume in March. Also in the mix is defending Fabulous Strike winner Midtowncharlybrown, who has captured six of eight starts at Penn National for trainer Edward Coletti, Jr. and owners Uptowncharlybrown Stud LLC and Godric LLC.
“We are excited about the quality of the horses nominated to the Holiday Racing Festival,” said Eric Johnston, Penn National’s Director of Racing. “The response from horsemen throughout the region has been very satisfying, and we look forward to hosting this event on Thanksgiving eve.”
The $100,000 Swatara, contested over a mile and a sixteenth for three-year-olds and up, closed with 21 nominations. Among that group are Greenwood Cup (G3) winner Adventist, owned by Bleu Max and trained by Uriah St. Lewis; and Colts Neck Stables’ Name Changer who took the 2018 Monmouth Cup (G3) for his lone graded stakes score. Trainer Jason Servis nominated an additional pair of graded stakes winners in Sunny Ridge and Monongahela, the latter of which is coming off a sixth place finish in the Kelso (G2) at Belmont Park.
The $100,000 Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies Stakes, a six-furlong test for registered Pennsylvania-breds, attracted 20 nominations. That list is topped by Pink Caddy, a stakes winner trained by Randy Allen for Club Risque Stable and Gregory Quick. Also in contention are impressive maiden winners Autonomous, who hails from the powerful Chad Brown barn for owner Klaravich Stables; Ebo Special, trained by Butch Reid for Cash is King LLC and LC Racing LLC; and Greg Newell’s Precious trained by John Servis.
Post time for the first race on the Holiday Racing Festival card will be 6:00 P.M. EST on November 27.
