Morning Line finds wire in Penn Derby

Morning Line (right) denied First Dude and A Little Warm in a blanket finish to take his stakes debut (Bill Denver/Equi-Photo)

In a topsy-turvy, quarter-mile run to the wire in Saturday's $1

million

Pennsylvania Derby (G2), it was the stakes newcomer MORNING LINE

(Tiznow) who fought back to reclaim the lead he had lost then

held off a resurgent First Dude (Stephen Got Even) to score a victory

in the lucrative nine-furlong test at the former Philadelphia Park.

Owned by the Thoroughbred Legends Racing Stable and trained by one of

its partners, Nick Zito, Morning Line prevailed at odds of 7-2 under

John Velazquez and returned $9.60, $5.40 and $3.60.

Morning Line established an early lead, chased on his outside by

First Dude, with the margin between the two varying from a half-length

to one length through the opening six furlongs. Morning Line raced off

the inside, forcing First Dude wide around the first turn, and

maintained his position on that part of the track down the backside as

he clipped off fractions of :23 2/5, :47 1/5 and 1:10 4/5. Exhi (Maria's

Mon) raced closer to the rail in behind the top pair with A Little Warm

(Stormin Fever) in close pursuit.

Entering the far turn, Garrett Gomez sent A Little Warm to the

outside of the long-time leaders and appeared to grab a slight lead

passing the quarter pole. In tight between rivals approaching the

stretch, First Dude weakened slightly and was shut off as A Little Warm

moved inside to race alongside Morning Line. A Little Warm poked his

head in front at the eighth pole and looked poised for victory, but

Morning Line fought back gamely on his inside while First Dude, who had

appeared to lose all chance after losing several lengths at the top of

the stretch, came charging back outside both rivals once he regained his bearings. With A

Little Warm's momentum shut down, Morning Line took back the lead and

held off First Dude by a neck with A Little Warm, in between rivals, another nose behind in third.