PA Derby/Cotillion Day September 20 at Parx

[Gandolf]

Philadelphia becomes the center of the horse racing universe for a day as some of the best 3 year olds come together for a pair of huge races. The PA Derby features the return of the near Triple Crown winning California Chrome facing off against the Haskell winner in Bayern, the West Virginia Derby winner in Tapiture and a host of others. The Cotillion features a rare matchup of three multiple Grade 1 winners in Untapable, Stopchargingmaria and Sweet Reason. There will be an all-stakes pick 4 that finishes with those two races.

Here are the full fields:

11th (4:45) Cotillion S. (G1)
1 1/16 Miles | Fillies | Purse: $1,000,000

1 Cassatt - Clark K D
2 Sweet Reason - Ortiz I Jr
3 House Rules - Castellano J J
4 Joint Return - Carmouche K
5 Vero Amore - Pennington F
6 Little Alexis - Rosario J
7 Jojo Warrior - Garcia M
8 Untapable - Napravnik R
9 Stopchargingmaria - Velazquez J R



12th (5:40) Pennsylvania Derby (G2)

1 1/8 Miles | Purse: $1,000,000

1 California Chrome Espinoza V
2 Candy Boy Rosario J
3 Protonico Castellano J J
4 Bayern Garcia M
5 Noble Moon Ortiz I Jr
6 Classic Giacnroll Carmouche K
7 Tapiture Napravnik R
8 C J's Awesome Prado E S <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

[Lloyd Braun]

I will be against Cal Chrome here, just not enough value for a horse off a long layoff facing a few who are right on form and running well. Bayern should once again be the speed of the speed and it will be a matter of catch me if you can, the 9 furlongs here is much more to his suiting that the 10 furlongs he went in the Travers (the lack of 48 hour security may help as well), CJs Awesome seems to be the one who will try to keep up with him here but think he will be chasing from the get go. Cal Chrome lead by 3 lengths at the top of the stretch in all of his races during that 6 race win streak and don't see that happening here, will he be able to catch Bayern and hold off Tapiture and Candy Boy, again my money will be against him doing it. Tapiture was no factor in the Derby but has come back with 2 wins in the Matt Winn at Churchill and the West Virginia Derby, which saw third place finisher Vicars in Trouble exit to win the Super Derby, should be back a few lengths maybe right behind Chrome but is much more comfortable in that position than Chrome is and is the one I expect to have a shot at catching Bayern. Protonico is one which may drift up the tote board and this relatively new shooter ran a head behind Travers winner VE Day in the Curlin before winning the Smarty Jones over this course, the slight stretchout shouldn't be a problem being out of Giant's Causeway and an AP Indy mare, and will be used at least underneath by me. Candy Boy is another logical choice here off 2 nice efforts after disappointing in the Derby, chased Shared Belief in the Los Al derby and there's no shame in not catching that one and just got run down by Tapiture in the WV Derby.

Probable Plays: WPS #7; Ex 4,7/2,3,4,7 Tri and Super: 4,7/2,3,4,7/1,2,3,4,7/1,2,3,4,7

Need to look at some of the other races and will probably have a Pick 4 play posted later.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Race 9 Pick 4: 2,4,5,6/1,4,6,7/1,8/4,7

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Alive to 4 and 7 in Pick 4, really think Bayern is going to be tough to catch here, track has been favoring speed. Will add a WP bet on Bayern if he stays above 7-2

 

[Lloyd Braun]

:money::money: Pick 4, Exacta and Tri. I'll take it.

 

[Gandolf]

Good stuff Lloyd! Got sidetracked and missed out. Looks like the rest of the 3 year old crop has caught up to Chrome. Don't think he likes to be inside horses either.

If Shared Belief takes to the new Santa Anita track he could be tough at the Breeders Cup. The field is going to look a lot different this year with Palace Malice, Dude and Mucho Macho Man now retired.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Tough spot for Chrome, he had been on the shelf for a well deserved break while these other horses were in good form and had been running during his absence. Add the speed favoring track and letting Bayern get away with modest fractions and no way he had a chance. I hope he takes a lot of money in the classic along with Bayern, that will be a different beast with the likes of Moreno and Shared Belief putting pressure on Bayern the whole way. There were some rumors yesterday on Will Take Charge retiring, if that is not the case and Santa Anita is playing fair, really think the Classic sets up for a horse of his running style.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

In other horse racing news, Sanctify finally finished out of the money today. I'll just copy and paste what the chart says as I will get a little fired up in my description:

SANCTIFY tracked the ace along the inside forwardly placed, came under coaxing at the five-sixteenths, was forced to check at the quarter pole as STREET GAME angled tightly in front to cut the corner into the stretch from the two path, clipped the back of that foe's heels bobbling and weakened thereafter. There was a Stewards' Inquiry as well as a Claim of foul by the rider of SANCTIFY alleging interference at the head of the stretch from STREET GAME being focused on prior to the race being declared official.

 

[STEED]

:money: