Saturday at the Parx brings out Songbird, top colts
So dominant is Songbird that a matchup of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners Saturday might be upstaged.
Derby winner Nyquist is the early 5-2 favorite and Preakness hero Exaggerator the 9-2 second choice among 12 3-year-olds going nine furlongs in the Grade 2 $1.25 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. Cupid, Oaklawn Park’s Grade 2 winner in March, and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Gun Runner are potential spoilers.
Meanwhile, Songbird risks her 10-for-10 record against five fellow 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 1 $1 million Cotillion at a mile and sixteenth. Fox Hill Farm’s superstar filly comes off a Saratoga Grade 1 sweep in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama, the latter at a mile and a quarter.
With Hall of Famers on her back (jockey Mike Smith) and in her corner (trainer Jerry Hollendorfer), Songbird is 1-2 on the morning line in a field including Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia. This is the last of three East Coast stops for the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro before the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at California’s Santa Anita Park, Hollendorfer’s home base.
Cathryn Sophia has six career victories by a combined winning margin of 50 3/4 lengths, winning twice at Parx, and commendable efforts in her two defeats when third in both the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park.
Cathryn Sophia trainer John Servis is conceding nothing to Songbird, saying “I wonder if (Songbird) has hooked into a filly as good as mine. And that’s not to take anything away from any of the other fillies by any means, or (Songbird). She’s obviously talented, she’s a champion. And I don’t know if my filly is good enough to beat her.”
A Kentucky Oaks matchup between Songbird and Cathryn Sophia fell through when the former missed the Churchill Downs classic in May because of illness. Previously looking at the seven-furlong Grade 2 Eight Belles on the Oaks undercard, Servis then entered Cathryn Sophia in the main event, which she won by 2 3/4 lengths with a stalking trip.
Cathryn Sophia got an extended break from the June 11 Acorn to her Sept. 3 romp of 6 1/2 lengths in the Princess of Sylmar at Parx, prompting Servis to say “I couldn’t have written the script any better” for the daughter of Street Boss.
“She didn’t have to put out too much of an effort to get the win and I think it will set her up good for this race coming up,” said Servis, who trained Grade 1 winners Jostle and Round Pond for Songbird owner Rick Porter. “It should be very interesting this Saturday.”
Cathryn Sophia is owned by the connections of 2005 male 3-year-old champion Afleet Alex, whose victories included the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Arkansas Derby. Javier Castellano has the mount from post 2, Songbird breaking from post five.
In the Pennsylvania Derby, Exaggerator breaks from post two under Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux and Nyquist from post nine under Mario Gutierrez, both with three Grade 1 wins as 3-year-olds. Nyquist, 8-for-8 through the Kentucky Derby, has since finished third in the Preakness and fourth in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, Exaggerator winning both races over sloppy surfaces. Exaggerator ran 11th when favored in both the Belmont and Grade 1 Travers.
Songbird ranks No. 4 and Nyquist No. 10 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association weekly poll.
Riders: Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel’s first victory since ending his retirement last month came in Sunday’s finale at Churchill Downs aboard Playing a Joke for Arkansas trainer Ron Moquett. Playing a Joke ($47.40) defeated $5,000 claimers by a neck on the first Sunday of the Louisville’s track’s September meeting. Borel had been 0 for 23 since his comeback race Aug. 27 at Ellis Park, abruptly retiring March 29 during the Oaklawn meeting. His last victory had been March 18 at Oaklawn for trainer Lon Wiggins. Borel turns 50 in November.
Jockey Jon Court is out indefinitely after suffering three broken vertebrae and two broken ribs in a spill Friday at Churchill Downs. Oaklawn’s 2000 jockey champion and a two-time Arkansas Derby winning rider in this decade, Court has 3,994 victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data-gathering organization. At age 55, he was Oaklawn’s sixth-leading rider this year with 29 victories. Court is the son-in-law of veteran trainer Jinks Fires.