Penn National Picks Today — November 12, 2026: Three V2 Picks at 28.8% or Higher

Penn National picks today — the card at a glance

Thursday night, November 12, 2026 at Penn National in Grantville, Pennsylvania: seven races, all on dirt, first post 5:45 p.m. Eastern, cloudy and 58°F. This is the most top-heavy card on today's Aces & Races Edge board — three different races carry a V2 top pick at 28.8% or higher, which almost never happens on a seven-race claiming-and-allowance program. Equibase lists no current changes for Penn National today, so all seven fields stand as drawn at the time of writing. Every rating below is Edge V2 from the individual race pages, pulled this morning. Full meet and track information sits on our Penn National track hub.

Featured race 4: Race 4 — #2 What Does It Take, V2 32.4%

Race 4 (7:12 p.m. ET) is a starter optional claiming race ($8,000) over a mile and a sixteenth, for a $25,000 purse — and Edge marks it as the card's Best Bet race. #2 What Does It Take is the reason: a V2 rating of 32.4%, the highest at Penn tonight, on a speed figure of 90.0 near the field top, at a short 8/5 morning line. The model is not being clever here; it is confirming that the best horse is also the most likely winner. The opposition is real, though — #5 Bold Ambition rates 24.2% and #4 Lookin At Roses 21.5% in V2, with #1 Uninvited Guest at 15.3% — so this is a strong favourite in a competitive race rather than a walkover, and the V2 gap of more than eight points over the second choice is the part to trust.

Featured race 7: Race 7 — #1 Gentle Breeze, V2 31.1%

The finale, Race 7 (8:39 p.m. ET), is a $5,000 claiming race over six furlongs, and #1 Gentle Breeze gives Penn a second 31%-plus V2 pick on the same card. The rating is 31.1%, built on a speed figure of 79.0 near the field top, and at a 5/2 morning line V2 flags Gentle Breeze as a value play — the model makes this horse a clear favourite while the line leaves room. The V2 chances behind are #6 Infamous Nono (19.9%), #5 Cold as Hell (13.2%) and #4 Super Tiz (10.2%). An eleven-point gap from first to second in a cheap claimer usually means one horse is simply a class above the rest; our class handicapping guide walks through how to spot that drop before the market does.

Featured race 5: Race 5 — #4 Houghton Shuffle, V2 28.8%

Race 5 (7:41 p.m. ET) is the richest race on the card, a $50,000 allowance over six furlongs, and #4 Houghton Shuffle tops V2 at 28.8% — with the single most eye-catching why note of the entire day: a speed figure of 112.0, near the field top. Nothing else on today's four-track board cites a figure close to that. At 7/2 on the morning line, the price is fair for a horse the model rates nearly ten points clear of #6 Maximus Meridius (18.6%), with #7 Great Richie M (15.7%) and #2 Showstopper Copper (15.3%) behind. If the 112 figure is real and repeatable, this is the best bet at Penn tonight regardless of the short fields elsewhere.

Today's free race and the full card on Edge

Today's free race on Edge is Race 6 at Delta Downs (8:00 p.m. ET), where #4 C F Spunie Style rates 34.6% in V2 — the highest number on today's board — and the full race is free to read: today's free race on Edge. For Penn itself, this post features three of seven races; the rest, including Race 6's V2 bomb #5 Whiskey Alley (22.8%) and Race 1's #5 Rarest Hour (21.2%), are rated horse-by-horse on Edge. Start with the free picks page, then open the full Penn card on Edge before the 5:45 p.m. first post. Today's flagship preview is Churchill Downs picks today.