Coffee Clique, Testa Rossi headline Penny Memorial

Grade 1 winner Coffee Clique is the most accomplished entrant in the Dr. James Penny Memorial (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Graded stakes winners Coffee Clique (Medaglia d’Oro) and Testa Rossi (Dr
Fong) each seek to halt losing streaks in Saturday’s $200,000
Dr. James
Penny Memorial H. (G3) at Parx Racing, a 1 1/16-mile grass event for fillies
and mares.

Coffee Clique, who went three-for-three in an abbreviated 2014 campaign with
wins in the Just a Game (G1) and Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2), has dropped
her first three outings this year. Third in the March 28 Honey Fox (G2)
following a layoff of more than nine months, she was subsequently second and
sixth, respectively, when defending her Distaff Turf Mile and Just a Game
titles.

Testa Rossi, who has not crossed the wire first since taking the 2014 Florida
Oaks (G3), was elevated to first in the January 31 Endeavour (G3), also at Tampa
Bay Downs, but was fourth in the Santa Ana (G2) and fifth in the Beaugay (G3) in
her two most recent starts for trainer Chad Brown.

Another mare with a graded win to her credit is the five-year-old Nellie
Cashman (Mineshaft), who took the 2013 Virginia Oaks (G3). Fourth in the Penny
Memorial last year, she took the $100,000 Dahlia at Pimlico in mid-April and was
most recent fifth in the $82,000 Miss Liberty at Monmouth Park.