Also featured on the evening card is a mandatory payout of the Hollywood High 5 carryover in race 7 which currently stands at over $216,000 as of Friday, May 21.

Breeze Easy, LLC’s Outadore, trained by Wesley Ward, was installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite for the Penn Mile.  A winner in his last race in the Animal Kingdom Stakes at Turfway Park on the synthetic surface, Outadore will switch back to the turf for Friday’s featured race.   Twice a winner on the turf as a two-year-old, Outadore also finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Keeneland last fall.   Irad Ortiz, Jr., Eclipse Award winner as the top rider in North America for three consecutive years and winner of the 2017 Penn Mile aboard Frostmourne, is scheduled to ride.  

Hall of Famer conditioner Bill Mott will saddle 9-5 morning line second choice Annex for owners LNJ Foxwoods and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.  A winner of his first three lifetime starts including the Cutlers Bay and Palm Beach stakes at Gulfstream Park earlier this year, Annex finished eighth, beaten only five and half lengths, as the favorite in the Grade 2 American Turf run at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby day race card.  Jockey Junior Alvarado has the mount.

The Mike Maker trained Chess’s Dream, owned by Michael Dubb, Steven Bouchey, Bethlehem Stables LLC and Chester A. Bishop, also last raced in the American Turf checking in seventh.  Chess’s Dream was victorious in the Kitten’s Joy (G3) at Gulfstream Park in January and will be ridden by jockey Kendrick Carmouche on Friday. 

Hall of Famer and recent Kentucky Derby winning jockey John Velazquez will be aboard Eric Fein’s Original. Trained by John Terranova II, Original placed third in his last two starts – the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct and the aforementioned Kitten’s Joy won by Chess’s Dream.

Rounding out the field is Godolphin, LLC’s Gershwin, trained by Michael Stidham and ridden by Joe Bravo, J Park Racing, LLC and Delia Nash’s Sibelius, trained by Jeremiah O’Dwyer and ridden by Sheldon Russell, and Kernan E Morris, Jr. and Jagger Inc.’s The King Cheek, trained by Jamie Ness and ridden by Jaime Rodriguez. 

After only seven previous editions the Grade 2 Penn Mile has quickly become one of the top turf events of the year for the three-year-old division earning Grade 3 status after just three runnings and moving up to Grade 2 status after just four renewals.   In its short history, prior Penn Mile winners include Breeders’ Cup champion Bobby’s Kitten as well as Grade 1 winners Catch a Glimpse and Force the Pass in its short history.

PENN MILE FIELD

1. Gershwin (12-1): Jockey Joe Bravo/trainer Michael Stidham
2. Original (8-1): John Velazquez/John Terranova
3. Annex (9-5): Junior Alvarado/Bill Mott
4. Chess’s Dream (5-1): Kendrick Carmouche/Mike Maker
5. The King Cheek (12-1): Jaime Rodriguez/Jamie Ness
6. Sibelius (10-1): Sheldon Russell/Jeremiah O’Dwyer
7. Outadore (8-5): Irad Ortiz, Jr./Wesley Ward