Midtowncharlybrown Narrowly Wires Chocolate Town Sprint

GRANTVILLE, PA – Uptowncharlybrown Stud and Godric’s homebred Midtowncharlybrown took the field gate to wire and held on tightly at the end to win Saturday’s $100,000 Chocolate Town Sprint Stakes at Penn National.

Breaking from post 5 under Roberto Rosado at 9/5 odds as part of a coupled entry with his full younger brother Midnightcharly, Midtowncharlybrown immediately took command by slightly over a length before posting fractions of :22.06 and :44.41. At the top of the stretch, Killybegs Captain began slowly eating away at the pacesetter’s lead after having sat a stalking position.

Midtowncharlybrown’s uncontested lead early proved to be the difference maker in the end, though, as he had enough left to dig deep and stave off Killybegs Captain by a neck at the wire. The Ed Coletti, Jr., trainee’s winning time for the 6-furlong sprint over the fast main track came in a time of 1:08.83.

Midnightcharly finished third with 1 1/4 lengths separating him from both second and fourth, where the even-money favorite Laki finished after breaking slowly and then having to steady twice. Home Run Maker and Blue Y Gold completed the order of finish.

Zipp On By was a trainer scratch.

Midtowncharlybrown’s win was his first of 2019 and improved his overall record to 19-9-1-1 with $400,908 earned. A true horse for course, the the 5-year-old son of Uptowncharlybrown has a local record of 8-6-1-0, including his first stakes score in last fall’s Fabulous Strike Stakes.

Coupled entries Midtowncharlybrown and Midnightcharly each returned $5.80 to win, $3.20 to place, and $3.20 to show. Killybegs Captain brought back $3.60 to place and $3.60 to show.