D.J. Stable's Alpyland dominated the $400,000 Penn Mile Stakes (G3T) to earn his first graded stakes victory May 29 at Penn National Race Course.
The 3-year-old Vekoma gelding stalked the pace under jockey Javier Castellano, sitting third off pacesetting longshot Bonsai Warrior, who posted fractions of :23.38 and :47.80. The Mark Casse trainee traveled comfortably down the backstretch and made his move on the turn, swinging outside of the new leader Honey Dutch and running right by him. Honey Dutch tried to battle on, and Immortalised made his bid for the lead on the grandstand side, but there was no catching Alpyland, who ran away with the mile turf race and hit the wire 4 lengths the best in a final time of 1:34.17. Going off at odds of 2-1, he paid $6.20 for the win. Alpyland now has five victories in 10 career starts.
Immortalised finished second, and Honey Dutch finished third after darting toward the inside rail, deep in the stretch drive.
Video: Penn Mile S. (G3T)
Bandiagara wins the Penn Oaks
Earlier on the Penn National card, Bandiagara ran down the leaders to win the Penn Oaks. Under jockey Manny Franco, she tracked the pace midpack and made her bid for the lead as the field hit the top of the stretch. She continued to gain ground on the leaders and got up to win by a length on the wire. Trained by Miguel Clement and owned by Madaket Stables, Kisber Racing, Bill Strauss, and West Point Thoroughbreds, the daughter of Zelzal finished the mile turf race in 1:35.60 and paid $14.40 for the win.
