Parx Racing will be off the turf on Tuesday, Aug. 24. This change was made as a result of ongoing rainfall in the Bensalem, Penn. area.
The $200,000 Parx Dash (G3), scheduled as Race 10 at five furlongs on the turf, will be cancelled and rescheduled for Aug. 31.
First Post for Aug. 24 is 12:55PM ET.
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The Pennsylvania-bred stakes schedule received a major boost for the remainder of the year, with four stakes doubling in value to $200,000, plus the addition of two $100,000 stakes. A total of $2.6 million in purses will now be paid out in restricted state-bred stakes in 2021.
“Our revenue has stabilized and the Race Horse Development Trust Fund has stood strong,” said Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's executive secretary Brian Sanfratello. “We wanted to send a message that Pennsylvania is on the move and the premier place to breed and race.”
Purses have been increased for the year-end 2-year-old stakes, the Shamrock Rose for fillies at Penn National on Friday, Nov. 26 and the Pennsylvania Nursery at Parx Racing on Tuesday, Dec. 7, as well as the Alphabet Soup and Plum Pretty for older runners on Parx Racing's rich Sept. 25 Pennsylvania Derby card.
Returning to the schedule are two six-furlong 3-year-old stakes cut earlier in the year – the New Start for fillies, and the Danzig – both to run at Penn National on Friday, Oct. 22.
Elizabeth Merryman, chair of the PHBA racing committee, says the increases come at an opportune time.
“We're making up for last year,” she explained, noting the reductions to the PHBA Breeding Fund due to COVID, as well as attempts by the governor to alter the Fund, which have since been resolved. “Now that things have gotten much more stabilized, it's great that we can add stakes and put big purses on the 2-year-old stakes at the right time of the year, where they can catch the attention of people making buying decisions at the sales. Buyers are going to look closer at the PA-breds, which helps the breeders.
“We're giving away substantial sums of money and the program is getting bigger and stronger,” Merryman added. “It helps the breeders by advertising the program.”
PHBA president Greg Newell says the boost to the stakes program rewards the resiliency of those involved in the breeding and racing industry in the state. “Being wise with our money and managing it carefully and having the resources available, we want to say thank you to our members and to share with the general racing community the strength of the breeding program in Pennsylvania.”
The updated stakes and their conditions are:
Saturday, Sept. 25, Parx Racing
Friday, Oct. 22, Penn National
Friday, Nov. 26, Penn National
Tuesday, Dec. 7, Parx Racing
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Making her first start since winning the G2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs in November of 2020, John and Susan Moore's homebred Princess Grace was a determined winner of Tuesday's Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Penn. The 4-year-old daughter of Karakontie, sent off as the even-money favorite, saved ground early then out-dueled Madita to the finish to win by a neck. Joe Bravo rode Princess Grace to victory for trainer Mike Stidham, completing 1 1/16 miles over the firm turf in 1:41 flat.
Longshot Glamorous Thunder grabbed the lead at the start and pulled away by two lengths through fractions of 23 1/5 seconds for the opening quarter and 47 3/5 seconds for the half. Platinum Paynter and Madita were steady in their pursuit, while Bravo held Princess Grace at the rail in fourth in the early going.
Rounding the far turn, Bravo steered Princess Grace around the tiring frontrunner before resuming her charge up the rail into the stretch. She hooked up with the duo of Platinum Paynter and Madita at the head of the lane. Madita and Princess Grace pulled away from Platinum Paynter by the eighth pole, and that pair dueled all the way to the line with Princess Grace pulling off the win by a neck in the final few strides. Madita had to settle for second, while Platinum Paynter checked in third. Amniarix was fourth.
Bred in Kentucky by her owners, Princess Grace is the first foal out of the multiple stakes-placed Silent Name mare Masquerade. She won on debut as a sophomore last year over Colonial Downs's turf course, then won an allowance next out on the turf at Monmouth Park. Princess Grace next ran second in the G3 Valley View at Keeneland on turf, before finishing out her 2020 campaign with the win over dirt in the off-the-turf edition of the G2 Mrs. Revere. Overall, the filly's record stands at four wins from five starts with earnings over $320,000.
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Trainer/owner Ricardo Vega, who operates Richard Vega Racing Stable, was hit with a 730-day suspension on June 29 for possession of 21 loaded syringes, 18 needles, one filled IV bag and an IV catheter. Vega was summarily suspended by emergency order in late May after a large-scale raid at Parx turned up prohibited items, though previous rulings had not included many details about what was found.
The ruling, which was issued by the Pennsylvania board of stewards, stated the contraband was found in a locked tack room belonging to Vega, though Vega's attorney, Alan Pincus, has said previously the tack room was utilized by multiple trainers and was not kept locked.
The ruling did not specify what substances were in the equipment found in the raid. Pincus said he has not been provided with test results on the substances but pointed to comments made by Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission executive director Tom Chuckas at a June 29 commission meeting saying the May raids turned up “nothing of substance.”
The suspension is scheduled to run from June 29, 2021 to June 28, 2023. Pincus told the Paulick Report he filed an appeal of the June 29 stewards' ruling with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
Vega has not saddled a horse since May 19 due to the summary suspension that was put in place ahead of the stewards' hearing on the matter. Pincus has also filed a request for a stay of the summary suspension, and said July 6 the courts have not yet decided whether Vega will be permitted to train while the appeals process is worked out.
Vega is a member of the Parx Hall of Fame and has trained winners of over 1,100 races to earnings of more than $19.5 million. He took out his trainer's license in 1992 after starting in the business as a hotwalker in Florida in the 1980s and working as an assistant to Al Hinson. He is a graded stakes-placed trainer and is the conditioner of Dulce Realidad, Philadelphia Park's Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 2008 and 1999 Philadelphia Park Claiming Horse of the Year Open Ice Hit. Among other clients, Vega has trained horses for Dun Roamin Farm, the nom de course for Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association president Sal DeBunda, who represents the THA as a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.
According to a report presented at a regular meeting of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission May 25, state investigators searched six barns, six tack rooms, five grooms' quarters and five external tack rooms. They also completed 66 out-of-competition tests. Although he could not reveal specifics, commission executive director Tom Chuckas said at that meeting the raid revealed “a significant amount of contraband … dealing with medications, either unlabeled, compounded, or expired.
“I regret to say that there were contraband that have no business on the backside, like needles and syringes and some other things that we discovered,” Chuckas said.
Pennsylvania state code prohibits anyone other than licensed veterinarians from possessing syringes, needles, or injectable medications on the backstretch.
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