Pennsylvania Derby, Cotillion highlight weekend

It has taken awhile to consider Philadelphia Park – now expanded and officially known as Parx Casino and Racing – a place where 3-yearold championships may be determined. At this point, however, the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion Stakes, both Grade 1s with $1,000,000 purses, are recognized as major stops on the road to the Breeders Cup and possible year-end honors.

Parx’s gain has been Belmont and Keeneland’s loss, as horses who in the past might have faced their elders in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Beldame and Spinster Stakes compete instead against their fellow 3-yearolds in the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion. The slots-goosed purses are naturally a major part of these races’ appeal, as is the fact that their earlier spot on the calendar allows for another week of rest before the Breeders’ Cup.

The hook in this year’s Pennsylvania Derby had been the expected rematch between Maximum Security and War Of Will, the principals in the near-disas

trous Kentucky Derby incident remembered more for the disqualification of Maximum Security than for the supreme athleticism shown by War of Will in staying on his feet.

With Tuesday’s announcement that Maximum Security would miss Saturday’s race because of colic, the Pennsylvania Derby became a considerably more wideopen event. The morningline favorite is now Improbable (8-5), who was runner-up in both the Rebel Stakes and a division of the Arkansas Derby but has yet to win a graded race in 2019. Mr. Money, the winner of four straight Grade 3s in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, is next at 2-1. War of Will, who went on to take the Preakness, looks like a serious overlay if he goes off at his m/l odds of 4-1.

The 1 1/16-mile Cotillion has been contested by five of the last seven champion 3-year-old fillies. Questing, Untappable, Songbird and Abel Tasman all won their races. Monomoy Girl, last year’s champion, crossed the finish line first in the Cotillion but was DQed to second for interfering with Midnight Bisou in the stretch.

With a field that includes Grade 1 winners Guarana, Serengeti Empress and Bellafina, this year’s eventual divisional champion could very well be on view tomorrow in the Cotillion. Guarana is the deserving m/l favorite at 9-5, although she looked considerably more comfortable winning the onemile Acorn by six lengths back in May than she did winning the nine-furlong Coaching Club American Oaks by one in July. Serengeti Empress (7-2) and Bellafina (6-1), Grade 1 winners in the Kentucky Oaks and Santa Anita Oaks, respectively, most recently filled out the trifecta behind Covfefe in the sevenfurlong Test Stakes at Saratoga.

Catholic Boy out of Kelso

Racing lost another headliner this weekend when it was announced that Catholic Boy would miss Saturday’s Kelso Handicap (G2) due to a “slight rear suspensory” injury. Owner Robert LaPenta said he still hoped to find a race for his horse prior to the Breeders’ Cup, where the 4-year-old colt could be considered for the Classic, Mile or Dirt Mile.

With Catholic Boy out, the m/l favorites for the Kelso became Grade 3 winners Prince Lucky (21) and Plainsman (4-1) and seven-time NY-bred stakes winner Pat on the Back (3-1).