The date of the 21st annual Pennsylvania Day at the Races was circled on many calendars as a total of 142 entries (including three also-eligibles) were taken for the 13-race extravaganza for Pennsylvania-breds worth over $1 million, including seven $100,000 stakes, to be run on Monday, Aug. 22 at Parx Racing.
This year's card of stakes offerings was expanded from five to seven with the addition of two restricted to Pennsylvania-bred and -sired 2-year-olds, which have proven extremely popular, each attracting 12 entries. Going off as the ninth and 10th races, the first up will be the $100,000 Miss Blue Tye Dye for fillies. The 2/1 morning-line favorite is Flor de Sombra (by Social Inclusion), winner of her only start on July 26 at Parx by nearly eight lengths. The morning-line favorite at 7/2 for the $100,000 Whistle Pig is the Weigelia colt Ninetyprcentmaddie, winner against open company in his only start on July 9 at Parx.
Chub Wagon, the 2021 Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year, headlines the six-furlong $100,000 Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial, going off the seventh race at 3:47 p.m. The only loss of her 13-start career came in last year's Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial where she finished second. Daniel J. Lopez and George Chestnut's 5-year-old mare has won four stakes since.
Winners of the past two runnings of the $100,000 Marshall Jenney Handicap, Admiral Abe and The Critical Way, come in as the top two choices this year. The Critical Way is the morning-line favorite at 6/5 for the turf sprint going off as the eighth race. The last time he ran at Parx was a win in last August's Gr.3 Parx Dash Stakes at the same distance.
A highly-competitve field of fillies and mares are set for the second turf race of the day, the $100,000 Mrs. Penny Stakes, the sixth race and first stakes on the card run at about a mile and a sixteenth. The slight 5/2 favorite in the field of 10 (with one on the also eligible list for main track only) is Love in the Air, who was last seen finishing third in the Gr.3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes at Parx in July. Maldives Model, who defeated Love in the Air in the Lyphard Stakes at Penn National in June, is the 3-1 second choice.
The $100,000 Banjo Picker Sprint at six furlongs (race 11) sees defending champion Fortheluvofbourbon making a return. The 5-year-old has won nine of his 15 career starts at Parx, but is the morning-line second choice at 3-1 behind Beren (5/2), who comes in off a dazzling performance in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes at Laurel Park in July.
The final stakes on the card is the $100,000 Storm Cat, run at one mile and 70 yards. Too Boss (3/1), a dominating winner last out in allowance company at the same distance, leads the wide-open affair for older runners.
Two $70,000 allowance races and four $60,000 maiden special weights round out the card, with 2-year-olds seeking their first win in three of the races, including the oversubscribed fourth race for fillies, with a full field of 12 and two also-eligibles.
First post is 12:55 p.m.
