The Presque Isle Masters has lured 11 quality sprinters and bettors have a lot of different ways to go. The $400,000 Grade 2 6 and a half-furlong fixture will be run on the synthetic surface and has enticed an intriguing cast of fillies and mares.
Presque Isle Downs, near Erie, Pennsylvania, hosts the Presque Isle Masters and the casino and racetrack is unique in appearance and formation. The mile track opened up in 2007 and it is paved with the synthetic material Tapeta Footings, which is a mixture of sand, rubber, fiber and wax coating.
Synthetic surfaces were tried in Southern California for a while but the powers that be eventually went back to a natural dirt surface. The Presque Isle Masters will be run on the first synthetic track that is longer than a mile in the Northeast.
Last year Living the Life won the Presque Isle Masters and the Gary Mandella student is back for more. Mandella is the son of Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and he has used a similar pattern with Living the Life this year. Last year the runner was coming off a defeat in July and the same is true this season. She has trained fast for this including a 1:10 2/5 drill at Del Mar and she has a local work last Monday to build on for this race. With a win in this stakes, Living the Life will become a millionaire.
Presque Isle Masters candidate Cactus Copy is a horse for the course. She has been in the exacta in 5 of her 6 races at this track and but was crushed in her other stakes attempt and was beaten by today’s rival Disco Barbie.
Barbie is riding a 3-race win streak and she hails from the stable of Dale Capuano, who has popped at 33% this meeting. Six of her 8 wins have been on this surface and she has never but out of the exacta at Presque Isle.
Elusive Collection won her first two races at Woodbine but has not been successful since. She may have needed her last race, the Grade 3 Seaway on August 27, and she figures to be a fair price on the tote.
Athena won the $66,000 Roxelena Stakes in June but this is a tougher assignment. This will be her first try on a synthetic surface too.
Meshell was trying to do something in her last race that she had never done. She was trying the turf for the first time and ran well to be second. She has some back class to draw from as she won the $100,000 Fort Springs last Halloween at Keeneland.
Bar of Gold has not raced since late July but the fact she won her racing debut gives her a shot to fire fresh.
Birdatthewire is a bad actress at the gate. She has had a tendency to break slowly and that is one of the reasons she is 0 for 7 this year. On her best day, she could win the Presque Isle Masters as she took the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita last year.
Regia Marina is ambitiously placed. She was a closing third in her only stakes attempt and she just has not shown that killer instinct.
Cactus Kris is part of a 2-horse entry and she will be the closer of the pair. All of her wins came on the synthetic, she is 4 for 13 at Presque Isle and she has been in the money in 11 of those efforts.
Unbridled Courage is unbeaten at Presque Isle but she has never beaten this caliber foe. She was 43-1 in her last stakes try and will be a longshot again.
Sarah Sis has the credentials to upset this field. She is tabbed at 12-1 on the morning line and she is repeatedly proven in Graded company. She will be ridden by Florent Geroux, who was aloft for Sarah Sis’s win in the Grade 2 Raven Run last year.
The Presque Isle Masters is a wide-open affair and that is accentuated by the fact the morning line favorite is 4-1. The way the race could unfold will be key and expect Sarah Sis and longshot Unbridled Courage to be gunning early on. There is not a ton of speed in this line-up so a horse will likely need tactical zip to have a big shot at winning.
That runner looks to be Living the Life. She was just a length off the lead on a sub :45 pace in her 2016 debut and she figures to sit a convenient stalk and rally trip. Trainer Mandella also has a knack with synthetic runners. He has popped at 36% with synthetic starters in the last year. Flavien Prat, who was tied for the leading rider this season at Del Mar, will be aloft.
Live the life in this edition of the Presque Isle Masters and good luck.
