Saturday’s mid-Atlantic stakes winners…
Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Memorial H., Parx Racing
- Coffee Clique
- trained by Brian Lynch
- ridden by Manuel Franco
- owned by Amerman Racing LLC
- Storyline: Favored Coffee Clique was ridden with confidence by Manny Franco, who kept the five-year-old Medaglia d’Oro mare wide throughout in the 1 1/16 mile test while never far behind. She bid for the lead on the turn, took over in the lane, drifted out a bit before being straightened away, and then prevailed by over a length over second choice Testa Rossi. She paid $3.40 to win.
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Elkwood Stakes, Monmouth Park
- Kharafa
- trained by Tim Hills
- ridden by Paco Lopez
- owned by Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch
- Storyline: Six-year-old Kharafa, the 6-5 favorite in the field of older turf runners, overcame a rough trip in which he was steadied twice to burst between horses and prevail by a neck in the one-mile Elkwood. ““I didn’t think I would ever find a hole, but finally there was an opening and he just went on through,” said winning rider Paco Lopez. “I kept him down on the inside the whole way. I didn’t want to get caught wide, so I had to sit and wait and luckily it all worked out.” Less lucky was hard-knocker Lochte, who moved widest of all to the lead before Kharafa’s late run. Next stop for Kharafa may be the Grade 3 Oceanport on Haskell day.
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