Parx and Charles Town offer big purses Saturday
The lucrative purses at Parx Racing and Charles Town on Saturday will serve as great examples of the immense power of slot-machine profits at those racetracks.
Parx will feature two $1 million races, the Cotillion and Pennsylvania Derby, while Charles Town will host the $400,000 Charles Town Oaks. Parx becomes the first track, outside of the Breeders’ Cup, to run two $1 million stakes on the same day.
The Derby for 3-year-olds is a rematch of Alpha and Golden Ticket, who dead-heated for the win in the Travers at Saratoga. That day, Alpha was the 2-1 favorite for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, while Golden Ticket was 33-1 for Kenny McPeek.
The Parx morning line lists Alpha as the 9-5 chalk and Golden Ticket at 5-2. At those odds, I will go with Alpha to repeat, while Golden Ticket will need to show me more.
There is always the angle of ship-in horses running for the first time over a strange surface. Parx can be a quirky dirt track, and the rail is usually to be avoided. A perfect trip in my eyes is being three-wide throughout.
An interesting long shot is Casual Trick (8-1), who has easily won both of his starts at Parx for trainer Nick Zito. The son of Bernardini has a home-field advantage and should hold price because his stakes resume is putrid.
Macho Macho (4-1) is another must-use horse exiting a gutsy win in the West Virginia Derby. The horse he beat at Mountaineer, Bourbon Courage, won the Super Derby next time out, so that flatters Macho Macho.
The Cotillion is a small, select field of four fillies. Questing (1-1) is in top form off two Grade 1 wins in the Alabama and Coaching Club American Oaks. She has taken the lead in the 3-year-old filly division from Royal Delta and now faces a fresh challenger in My Miss Aurelia (8-5).
My Miss Aurelia was the Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly last year and just returned to the races recently, winning a sprint Aug. 8 at Saratoga.
I think My Miss Aurelia might be up against it. Questing is quick early, and I see her getting an uncontested lead. She is carrying 124 pounds, seven more than My Miss Aurelia, but that might not matter.
Two classy New York invaders, Book Review (3-1) and Beautiful But Blue (4-1), are standouts in the Charles Town Oaks at the West Virginia dirt track.
Book Review was the second choice in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga last out, but lost all chance after a poor start. It’s hard to overcome a 15-length deficit against quality foes. Book Review is the filly to beat with normal racing luck.
Beautiful But Blue is stuck out in a parking-lot post 10. Joel Rosario does have a long run to the first turn to maneuver to save some ground.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.