Both Parx Racing and Penn National hosted Thanksgiving eve stakes action, including a pair of races for two-year-old PA-breds.

Here’s what we learned:

ICONA MAMA MIGHT BE OK

Icona Mama, a two-year-old PA-bred daughter of Maximus Mischief, went off at 1-5 in Penn National’s $100,000 Shamrock Rose Stakes for state-bred two-year-old fillies – and ran to those odds.

With Ricardo Chiappe up, she pressed the pace of longshot Query, took the lead in upper stretch, and absolutely buried her rivals thereafter. Icona Mama drew off to win by 9 ½ lengths in a zippy 1:10.24 for six furlongs on a fast main track.

Trained by Flint Stites for DeSales 85 LLC, Icona Mama now has two wins and two other in-the-money finishes from five career starts with earnings just shy of $150,000. She was a $75,000 auction purchase as a two-year-old in training, and her resume includes placings in the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs and in the Bolton Landing at Saratoga.

A MAIDEN NO MORE

A homebred for Brian Schartz, Crab Daddy entered the $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery for two-year-old state-breds at Parx with about as thin a resume as you’ll find: a single prior start, in $45,000 waiver maiden claiming company in which he finished second.

Certainly the betting public was no impressed: they made the Linda Albert trainee 12-1 in wagering dominated by 3-for-3 The Boy’s Warrior.

Under jockey Ruben Silvera, though, Crab Daddy was up close early, lost some ground rounding the turn, and then mounted a strong rail rally to win by nearly four lengths in 1:25.15 for seven furlongs on a fast main track.

As for the horse that beat Crab Daddy on debut, that runner, Bjorn, will himself run back in stakes company, in the Maryland Juvenile Dec. 7.

IN THE ZONE

Spikezone has had a ridiculously good year beating on allowance and starter allowance foes.

Wednesday he stepped up into stakes company in the $75,000 Let’s Give Thanks at Parx Racing and found the deeper waters to his liking. Under jockey Mychel Sanchez, the five-year-old Jamie Ness trainee jetted immediately to the lead and then held off the late run of One More Scoop to secure a one-length victory in 1:17.08 for 6 ½ furlongs.

Owned by Troy Johnson, Charles Lo, and Ness’s own Jagger Inc., Spikezone is 11-for-14 in 2024 with nearly $380,000 banked. He’s 14-for-25 in his career.

Spikezone, who has not been worse than third this year, is tied with Tennessee Moon for the season’s most wins.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY

Four-year-old Tudox Opportunity took advantage of a… err… an… opportunity Wednesday when he went off the 5-2 favorite in the $50,000 Chocolate Town Stakes for three-year-olds and up.

Under jockey Jomar Torres, the Hoppertunity gelding pressed the early pace, took the lead by the halfway point, and held his rivals safe to win by three parts of a length. The win was his third in six starts this year and sixth in 11 overall outings but also his first in stakes company.

Tudox Opportunity, a Pennsylvania-bred, is trained by Elisha Perez for Tudox Farm.

STAKING A CLAIM

Trainer Bernie Houghton and owner James Eshelman dropped Stassi, a four-year-old homebred Warrior’s Reward filly, into claiming company for three straight starts in October and November.

In her most recent, she won a $16,000 beaten claimer Nov. 8, and the connex liked that effort enough to put her in the $50,000 Susquehanna Valley Wednesday at Penn National. With David Cora up, the result was a neck victory over Doctor Abbie, while post-time favorite Hot Fudge Warrior led early but faded to fourth.

It was Stassi’s third win of the year and fifth in 18 career outings. She has earned almost $170,000 lifetime.

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