‘Monumental Chore,’ But ‘Honest’ Beren Takes On Jackie’s Warrior In Parx’s Gallant Bob

After a year away, it's good to be back. That's what you've heard on the backstretch at Parx as the days get closer to the biggest day in racing in the Keystone State. The Pennsylvania Derby is back.

Following a year's hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, a 13-race card comes to Parx Saturday, Eight stakes races – highlighted by a pair of $1 million Grade 1 races, the Cotillion and Pennsylvania Derby – worth $3.4 million will be held.

“It will be good to see the nation get a chance to look at us and look at the quality product we put out here,” veteran Parx trainer Robert “Butch” Reid said. “There are good horsemen here with good horses. To get the national press is a very good thing for the track. It was like last year never happened because we missed out on our big day.”

Reid has horses running in five races. He will send out Beren in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bob for 3-year-olds where he will tackle the imposing Jackie's Warrior.

Beren, owned by St. Omer's Farm and Christopher Feifarek, is 6-1 on the morning line and will be ridden by Frankie Pennington, the second leading rider at the Parx meet with 121 wins.

In eight career starts at Parx, Beren has four wins and two seconds. Overall, he has six wins in 12 career starts. The Gallant Bob will be his second graded stakes start; he was third in the Grade 3 Bay Shore at Belmont in April.

“It's obviously a monumental chore,” Reid said about going up against Jackie's Warrior, the 4-5 morning line favorite. “But the horse always gives a good effort and we will certainly give it a try.”

Beren is coming off a front-running 6 ½-length win in the Parx Summer Sprint Stakes on Aug. 24. His trainer says his horse does not need the lead to win.

“He won a race at Belmont (Gold Fever on May 9) and he stumbled out of the gate, righted himself, and ran really well,” Reid said. “He is just an honest horse.”

Reid has also entered 6-year-old Smooth B in the five-furlong Grade 3, $300,000 Turf Monster and Ninetypercentbrynn in the $200,000 Plum Pretty at 1 1/16 miles.

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Racecourse Managers Learn To Make Their Tracks Safer During UK Grading School

In horse racing, safety of the horse and rider is paramount. A University of Kentucky professor and leading racecourse managers recently showed racetrack employees how to improve safety by properly grading the surface.

“The track's subgrade is the foundation and without a good foundation, you can't have a good structure, which is your track's cushion,” said Harrison Young, assistant superintendent at Colonial Downs and grading school participant. “This class is a great opportunity for people like me to learn from people like Mick Peterson and Dennis Moore about practices and methods that can minimize the risk of injuries to horses and riders, through the understanding of the importance of testing, surveying and grading. Safety is our motive, and the more we can learn, the better the industry will be.”

During the three-day UK grading school, entry to mid-level track surface employees learned from Peterson, Alfredo Laureano, superintendent at Keeneland Race Course and Moore, who is a superintendent of the tracks at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Del Mar and a private consultant.

“One of the priorities of this program is getting the up-and-coming racecourse managers experience with some of the more complicated equipment used in the critical roles on the track. One of these critical areas is the grading of the surface,” said Peterson, professor in the UK Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and director of the Racetrack Safety Program.

Surface grading is vital to keeping horses and riders safe during a race. Grading school participants received one-on-one instruction operating a new grader and an older one. They also learned how to properly grade synthetic and dirt racetracks. All hands-on instruction was at Keeneland.

“You have to keep the hard base underneath the surface consistent not only because of the impact of the hoof on the ground, but to keep the moisture content consistent,” Peterson said. “You also must have consistent banking in straightaways and the turns so the loading of the legs is even, and when lead changes occur, horses and riders can use the same visual indicators to change lead.”

The industry has a strong interest for educational programs and workforce training centered around safety. The grading school received 15 applications for the five participant spots in this first school.

“The more education we have and the more knowledge we can learn about the new methods helps allow us to keep horses on the track and to be able to continue horseracing in the safest way that we possibly can,” Young said.

The grading school is the second segment of the Racecourse Manager Certification Program, a joint effort of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance, the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory. The first part was on turf courses.

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Invincible Spirit’s Hello You Registers Game Rockfel Triumph

Amo Racing's €350,000 Arqana August Select graduate Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) had failed to scale the podium in two starts since joining the David Loughnane yard, but made amends and then some with a battling victory in Friday's G2 Unibet Rockfel S. at Newmarket. The March-foaled bay, who had posted a May 24 6 1/2-length tally on debut at Wolverhampton, hit the board in both G3 Albany S. and G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. when under the care of Ralph Beckett. She raced too keenly in a first-time hood for her Loughnane debut in York's Aug. 21 G2 Lowther S. and did so again sporting the headgear once more when fourth in Goodwood's Aug. 28 G3 Prestige S. last time. Hello You inched forward from fifth to stalk the leaders in a handy third after an alert getaway in this straight seven-furlong test. Bustled along for her bid approaching the quarter-mile marker, the 7-1 chance gained a narrow advantage entering the final furlong and was driven out up the hill to deny TDN Rising Star Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) by 1 1/2 lengths for a career high. Cachet's pacesetting George Boughey stablemate Oscula (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) kept on well once headed and rallied to finish a half length adrift in third.

“The Amo [Racing] team have thought a lot of her from day one,” said Loughnane. “She was very impressive on debut and you couldn't knock what she did at Royal Ascot. She's been beaten twice now by what could be described as the best 2-year-old filly in the country, in Sandrine. She arrived with us from Mr Beckett's in great order, she's strengthened up loads over the last month and we're very privileged and lucky to have a horse of her calibre in the yard. I think she'd go on any ground, I said that she deserved a Group win beside her name and I'm delighted she's proved herself. We've always felt she'll be better over a mile and she's just outstayed them today over the seven furlongs. I know Kia [Joorabchian] is very keen to potentially have a crack at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in Del Mar in November. I'm very grateful for the support the Amo team have given us. They've been a huge asset to the yard.”

Hello You, the fourth of six foals, is one of three scorers and the leading performer out of a multiple-winning half-sister to G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest victor Signs of Blessing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). The March-foaled bay is kin to a yearling filly by Kodiac (GB) and a weanling filly by Bated Breath (GB). Her second dam Sun Bittern (Seeking the Gold), a half-sister to the dam of G3 Prix Miesque placegetter Moisson Precoce (GB) (Lawman {Fr}), is an unraced daughter of Listed Cheshire Oaks third Sunray Superstar (GB) (Nashwan), herself a full-sister to G1 Prix Saint-Alary victrix and G1 Prix de Diane runner-up Nadia (GB).

Friday, Newmarket, Britain
UNIBET ROCKFEL S.-G2, £90,000, Newmarket, 9-24, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:23.12, g/f.
1–HELLO YOU (IRE), 126, f, 2, by Invincible Spirit (Ire)
1st Dam: Lucrece (GB), by Pivotal (GB)
2nd Dam: Sun Bittern, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Sunray Superstar (GB), by Nashwan
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (€350,000 Ylg '20 ARDEAY). O-Amo Racing Ltd; B-Serge Boucheron (IRE); T-David Loughnane; J-Rossa Ryan. £54,498. Lifetime Record: 6-2-1-1, $119,656. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Cachet (Ire), 126, f, 2, Aclaim (Ire)–Poyle Sophie (GB), by Teofilo (Ire). (14,000gns RNA Ylg '20 TATASY; 60,000gns 2yo '21 TATBRE). O-Highclere Thoroughbred Racing (Wild Flower); B-Hyde Park Stud (IRE); T-George Boughey. £20,662.
3–Oscula (Ire), 126, f, 2, Galileo Gold (GB)–Bisous Y Besos (Ire), by Big Bad Bob (Ire). (4,000gns Ylg '20 TATOC). O-Nick Bradley Racing 20; B-Padraig Williams (IRE); T-George Boughey. £10,340.
Margins: 1HF, HF, 1 1/4. Odds: 7.00, 9.00, 4.00.
Also Ran: Jumbly (GB), Girl On Film (Fr), Majestic Glory (GB), Romantic Time (GB), Sunstrike (Ire), Femme Friendly (GB). Scratched: Kawida (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Rising Star Looks to Remain Perfect in Dogwood

'TDN Rising Star' Carribean Caper (Speightstown) looks to keep her perfect record in tact Saturday and score her first graded victory in Churchill's GIII Dogwood S. Donning cap and gown by eight lengths in her Fair Grounds unveiling Feb. 13, the $250,000 KEESEP acquisition captured a Keeneland optional claimer Apr. 2 and an Ellis Park test July 10. She passed her first black-type test with ease in the Audobon Oaks last out there Aug. 15.

Li'l Tootsie (Tapiture) seeks her black-type badge in this event. Capturing a Churchill optional claimer May 31, she finished ninth in both the July 7 GIII Indiana Oaks and the grassy Galway S. at Saratoga Aug. 15. The bay rallied to be third last time when getting back on dirt at the Spa in the GII Prioress S. Sept. 4.

Patty H (Flatter) makes her first start off the claim here. She was haltered by Mike Miceli for $40,000 out of a winning effort at Saratoga July 16. GIII Iowa Oaks runner-up Shesa Mystery (Verrazano) also runs in this spot.

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