Bartlett scores in PA Governor’s Cup
Jean Valjean, Jes See Me taking supporting events
The Biz
August 15, 2026
Speed was deadly in a trio of Friday evening turf stakes at Penn National.
Two of the three went to horses who led at every call, while the third was won by a horse never worse than second.
In the featured $150,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, five-year-old gelding Bartlett zipped to the early lead, threw down testing fractions, and had just enough to hold off the late bid of Spellcast.
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With Frankie Pennington up, Bartlett led narrowly through an opening quarter-mile in 22.59 seconds, pushing the advantage to one length after a half-mile in 46.12 seconds and to 1 ½ lengths after three quarters in 1:11.26.
Spellcast was Bartlett’s nearest pursuer after three quarters, but though Bartlett edged even a bit farther ahead, Spellcast was far from done. Under jockey Rocco Bowen, he mounted a late bid but could not quite get to the leader, falling a neck short in 1:39.47 for 1 1/16 miles on firm turf.
It was Bartlett’s second consecutive stakes win. Trained by John Servis and a Pennsylvania homebred for Newell Thoroughbreds, Bartlett has eight wins and $423,910 in earnings from 16 career starts.
Two races earlier, Hasting Farm’s homebred Jean Valjean led throughout to win the $75,000 Marshall Jenney Stakes for Pennsylvania-breds by a bulging gap of five lengths. Running time for five furlongs on turf was 55.32 seconds.
Jean Valjean has nine wins from 23 starts and earnings just shy of $314,000. Jomar Torres was in the irons for trainer Elizabeth Merryman.
In the Crowd Pleaser Stakes, a turf route for Pennsylvania-breds, Jes See Me pressed the early pace before taking over in the lane to win by a length under jockey Charlie Marquez. Jes See Me covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.44.
Trained by Darien Rodriguez for Midnight Rider LLC, Jes See Me logged the first stakes win of his career and seventh victory overall. He has earned $171,155 from 13 starts.
Jes See Me, by Raging Bull, has won six times in eight 2026 outings.
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