Presque Isle Downs’ signature race – the $300,000 Masters – has more than lived up to its current Grade 2 status. In the first 15 Masters runnings, four repeat winners emerged in the race for 3-year-old fillies. Those winners – Groupie Doll, Informed Decision, Living The Life and Hotshot Anna – were a combined 48-for-107 with $6.6 million in earnings. A new champion will be crowned this Friday in the 6-1/2 furlong race on the synthetic track. The Masters is the final leg of a 50-cent all-stakes Pick 3 that drew double-digit entrants each race and part of a 2 Million 1/ST Rewards Points Hit & Split in the late pick 4 when you bet with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet.

PID 7th race (7:42 p.m. EST) -- Seven of the 10 entrants in the $100,000 Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile arrive off victories -- and that doesn’t include morning-line favorite MAX CAPACITY, who tested stakes company after a smashing debut win at Colonial Downs. MAX CAPACITY gave way chasing the second favorite before promising winner Magic Wallet passed by to win the 6F Dover Stakes at Delaware Park. He might forget to stop If he handles the synthetic track and 6-1/2F distance. INMATE looms a late-running threat at a good price from the rail. He trailed into the turn at 5-1/2F and closed with a 6-wide rush to finish second to the co-favorite in his debut. MO DODGY proved ‘much the best’ in a maiden-breaking win on the Saratoga turf. He seized the moment after race favorite Minorinconvenience – a recent stakes winner -- bore out and took up out of contention. He followed with a 6F allowance win at Presque Isle despite dropping back off heels on the turn and re-grouping with a winning 6-wide rally.

PID 8th (8:09 p.m. EST) -- THE WINE STEWARD, a generous 8-1 on the morning line, earned the top two speed figures of his career in non-graded stakes route races this year. He caught the pace-setter to win by a neck in the one-mile Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park and, more recently, edged away at the eighth-pole but settled for second best with a 98 Beyer in the 7F John Morrissey at Saratoga. He was graded stakes-placed at tonight’s 1-1/16-mile distance as a 2- and 3-year-old. He is a must use in the $150,000 Presque Isle Mile (at 1-1/6 miles). ENCINO arrives for two-time, Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox with a 5-for-10 record and $560,000 bankroll. He has plenty of speed to get early position from post 10, but has a come-from-behind stakes win on Turfway Park’s synthetic track to summon if he needs it. He went wire-to-wire in the Grade 3 Lexington on Keeneland’s main track and won the Jonathan Schuster Memorial on the Horseshoe Indianapolis lawn to improve to 4-for-4 at 1-1/16 miles.

PID 9th race (8:36 p.m. EST) -- ELLEN JAY, the morning-line favorite in the featured Presque Isle Masters, draws post 11 for her first start on a synthetic track, a big concern considering she broke slowly in her last two starts. But she won the Glen Cove Stakes on the Aqueduct turf to close her 3-year-old season with three consecutive wins and had a useful seasonal debut in the Smart And Fancy at Saratoga. She steadied in traffic on the backstretch, advanced on the rail and finished third, beaten 2 lengths by four-time graded stakes winner Future Is Now (10-18, $967k). She galloped out several lengths in front, a good sign as she goes beyond 6F for the first time. PANDORA’S GIFT has also seen enough of the aforementioned Future is Now, finishing close behind her in four straight graded sprints on the turf. She’s 4-for-6 on synthetic tracks, ran well off longer layoffs than tonight and hails from a hot barn. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse sends out three uncoupled Grade 3 winners. ELYSIAN FIELD rallied from far back to defeat favored STORMCAST in the 7F Seaway Stakes on Woodbine’s synthetic surface, but STORMCAST can turn the tables in her second start as a 4-year-old. TICKER TAPE HOME won the same race as her stablemates in 2024, her first of four Grade 3 placings. MS TART won 4 of 8 starts and blossomed into a Grade 3 winner for locally-based trainer Kevin Rice after she was claimed for $30,000 in January. She angled 5-wide for the stretch run and surged to win the 6F Satin And Lace at Presque Isle in her final prep for the Masters. CANDY REWARD is 5-for-8 at Presque Isle, winning at three distances by a combined 25-3/4 lengths.

Suggested $1 Pick 3
PID 7th Race: 1, 8, 9
PID 8th Race: 2, 10
PID 9th Race: 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11
Cost: $36