This Saturday at Parx Racing is the $200,000 Parx Dash Handicap, a Grade 3 turf sprint contested at five furlongs on the lawn. Headlining the field of ten is the popular Bens Cat who is attempting to win the Parx Dash Handicap for the third consecutive year.
Ben’s Cat, trained by King Leatherbury and ridden by regular jockey Julian Pimental, has been installed as the morning line favorite at 5-2. The remarkable eight-year-old gelding has won 26 of his 40 career starts and is just shy of $2 million in earnings. After racing primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, he shipped to Belmont Park for the Jaipur Invitational Stakes (G3) in June and was fourth as the favorite.
Second choice at 3-1 is Tightend Touchdown, a five-year-old gelded son of Pure Precision for trainer Jason Servis. Kendrick Carmouche will be in the irons as the gelding attempts to improve off of a runner-up finish to Ben’s Cat in the 2013 installment of the Parx Dash. He was last seen winning the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup as the favorite over a field of nine rivals. Last fall, he was second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1).
Also in the field and breaking from the outside is Marchman, 4-1 on the morning line for William Brett Calhoun. The up-and-coming son of Sharp Humor will have regular rider Robby Albarado in the irons and has been on the board in all five starts this year with two wins, both against Grade 3 company, to his credit. He was second in the Jaipur Invitational last out.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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