Historic Day at Parx for $1 Million Pennsylvania Derby

Parx Racing Hosts Two Grade 1 Races Including Pennsylvania Derby 

The highlight of the Parx 2017 season is Saturday, Sept. 23, when, for the first time in its history, it will host two Grade 1 races in the Cotillion Stakes, for three-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles, and the Pennsylvania Derby, for three-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs). Both have $1 million purses and each features some of the top 3-year-olds in their division.

Racing fans looking to watch the Cotillion and Pennsylvania Derby can tune into Comcast SportsNet from 4:30pm — 6pm ET. In addition, three other stakes races precede the pair of $1 million races. The $300,000 Gallant Bob Stakes (G3), $150,000 PA Derby Champion Stakes and the $100,000 Alphabet Soup Stakes,

Trainer Bob Baffert will saddle the favorites in both the Cotillion and Pennsylvania Derby, and he’ll be at Parx for the big day of racing.

This year’s top wagering choices in the $1 million Cotillion are Abel Tasman (8–5), It Tiz Well (4–1), Actress (5–1) and Salty (5–1). Abel Tasman has won the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and Coaching Club American Oaks — all Grade 1’s — in succession. But she drew a tricky post outside at №11 in a field of 12 fillies with Salty to her outside. A 1st place prize of more than $600,000 awaits as they gallop home in the 1 1/16 mile race for 3-year-olds.

The headliner $1 million Pennsylvania Derby will feature some of the best colts in the nation trying to bolster their Eclipse Award hopes, as well as getting in one last proper prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. This year’s Pennsylvania Derby is held as a Grade 1 race for the first time, and there is serious quality speed in this field of 12.

West Coast (8–5) drew post 4 and enters with four straight wins, including the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 26. He’ll take lots of betting action as the deserving favorite for the strong duo of Baffert and jockey Mike Smith.

Trainer Doug O’Neil entered a pair in the Pennsylvania Derby, second choice Irap (3–1) and Term of Art (20–1). Irap finished 3rd behind West Coast in the Travers. The Pennsylvania Derby field also includes Wood Memorial winner and Belmont Stakes runner-up Irish War Cry (9–2), who will break from post 8 for Graham Motion, and 4-for-5 Timeline (5–1), trained by Chad Brown, who has the inside post and will be the one on the lead with a good break. Timeline’s lone loss was in the Haskell Invitational the end of July when he tired through fast fractions as the favorite in his first Grade 1 race. But his speed has been superb in his other two graded stakes starts, and Timeline has been running bullets in his lead-up Belmont works.

Both Irap and Irish War Cry ran in this year’s Kentucky Derby.

The Pennsylvania Derby field is completed by Game Over (15–1), Giuseppe the Great (20–1), Outplay (12–1), Talk Logistics (20–1), and Watch Me Whip (20–1).