With four runners between 3-1 and 4-1, the 2021 Silverbulletday winner Lothenbach Stable's Charlie's Penny will be tested as the favorite in the morning line when making her first start in a turf stakes in the $100,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial. With the portable rail set at 34 feet and the field limited to eight runners on the Stall-Wilson turf course, seven older fillies and mares will battle it out going 1 1/16 miles.
Going from sprint to route into December's Broussard, Charlie's Penny was bet to odds-on favoritism, but she settled for third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Moon Swag. A proven stalker at any distance, the 5-year-old mare by Race Day almost made her lone turf start a winning one at Colonial Downs in August, dashing home to a runner-up performance over 5 1/2 furlongs. Trained by Chris Block, Charlie's Penny subsequently rattled off two consecutive wins on the dirt before her run in the Broussard. Drawing post No. 2, Jareth Loveberry retains the mount.
The Brendan Walsh barn enters two in the Krantz, both proven on the turf.
Winless in 2022, Godolphin's Lake Lucerne was 3/4 lengths shy of making her last start of the year a winning one in the Blushing K.D. The 6-year-old mare by Dubawi began her career with trainer John Gosden in England. She's faced salty stakes company and has run well, but with her closing running style, her success often depends on the trip she can work out when the race kicks into high gear on the turf.
“She hasn't won a lot of races but she always runs well,” assistant trainer on the grounds Paul Madden said. “She ran well in the Blushing K.D (last out). She's a filly who has got to make her run on the outside. Around the turn (in the Blushing K.D.) she hit a flat spot and Brian (jockey Hernandez Jr.) tried to push to the outside, but another horse kept him in. It took her a while to get out but when she finally did, she flew home to gallop out in front. She's one of them who finds a way to get herself beat, but she runs well.”
Tyler Gaffalione will look to see if he is the winning answer while piloting Lake Lucerne from gate No. 3.
The Walsh barn decides to add blinkers for John Gallegos' My Philly Twirl's run in the Krantz. The winner of Gulfstream Park's Sanibel Island Stakes last April finished far back against stakes company on Gulfstream's synthetic tack in her prior race.
“(My Philly Twirl) is coming in from Florida,” Madden said. “She was a little disappointing in the last one, but she can run. She showed that when winning a stakes down in Florida last year.”
A proven front-runner, My Philly Twirl gets the services of Florent Geroux and will break from post No. 5.
Here's the complete field for the Krantz Memorial (G3) from the rail out (with jockey, trainer, and morning line):
- Fancy Martini (James Graham, Joe Sharp, 8-1);
- Charlie's Penny (Jareth Loveberry, Chris Block, 3-1);
- Lake Lucerne (Tyler Gaffalione, Brendan Walsh, 7-2);
- Carpe Vinum (Rey Gutierrez, John Ortiz, 8-1);
- My Philly Twirl (Florent Geroux, Brendan Walsh, 6-1);
- Wave of Goodness (Mitchell Murrill, Armando Hernandez, 4-1);
- Miss Speedy (Brian Hernandez Jr., Mark Casse, 4-1).
The post Morning-Line Choice Charlie’s Penny Will Be Tested In Krantz Memorial appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
