Philadelphia is the place to be on Independence Day, especially if you have a few talented turf fillies and mares. Trainer Chad Brown has three that he’s entered for the $200,000 Dr. James Penny Memorial (G3) over 1 1/16 miles Parx Racing, one of two graded stakes scheduled on the holiday Tuesday.
Brown’s trio includes Elysea’s World, third as the even-money favorite to Cambodia in the May 20 Gallorette H. (G3) at Pimlico when caught behind a false pace. Runner-up to Dickinson in the Suwannee River (G3) and Hillsborough (G2) earlier this year, Elysea’s World shares a similar run style to stablemates Light In Paris, recently second in the Eatontown (G3), and the streaking Fourstar Crook, who has won seven straight including three in New York-bred stakes company.
Cambodia will look to provide jockey Florent Geroux with his second straight win in the Penny Memorial after riding Zipessa to victory last year. The Gallorette was the first career stakes win for the five-year-old, who has won three of six since joining the Tom Proctor stable.
Light Up Our World, a stakes winner in England last summer, made her U.S. debut June 1 at Belmont Park, finishing second in a second-level allowance. The Arnaud Delacour charge adds Lasix for the Penny.
My Impression, a three-time stakes winner last term including the Commonwealth Oaks (G3), comes in off a photo finish loss against allowance foes at Belmont after setting a soft pace. Two-time Grade 3 scorer Tin Type Gal and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Thundering Sky are also in the lineup.
Multiple Grade 2 winner Om, who ended his 2016 campaign with four narrow losses, returns to action in Santa Anita’s $100,000 American (G3) over a mile on the turf, the feature on the closing day of the track’s spring/summer meet. The toughest beat of the quartet was arguably his nose loss to Obviously in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) after a monster rally from the rear of the pack.
Si Sage, who landed the Charles Whittingham (G2) a year ago in May, is returning from a layoff dating back to July, when he finished a close fourth in the Eddie Read (G2) to division stalwarts Midnight Storm and Ashleyluvssugar.
Other potential contenders include Alert Bay, Hunt, and Pee Wee Reese.
