Next a Short-Priced Favorite in Greenwood Cup

Thorpedo Anna, the leader of the 3-year-old filly division and expected heavy favorite in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx Racing, will not be the only short-priced public choice in action Sept. 21 at the Bensalem, Pa., track. Dirt marathon specialist Next looms an even shorter price in the $200,000 Greenwood Cup Stakes (G3) at 1 1/2 miles on dirt. A 25-length winner of the Greenwood Cup last year, Next has decisively won six consecutive races, including the four-horse Birdstone Stakes by 22 1/4 lengths at 1-20 odds Aug. 4 at Saratoga Race Course. The Parx racing office somehow managed to find nine foes to enter the Greenwood Cup and oppose him, though scratches could result in some of those being removed from the race. Some of those entered, such as Suigu Star, who ran fifth for a $5,000 claiming tag two starts ago, appear outgunned. Even proven graded stakes horses often are outrun by Next, who has not lost since the spring of 2023. Doug Cowans trains the 6-year-old son of Not This Time for owner Michael Foster, who claimed him for $62,500 in April 2022. He is 9-for-11 since. Luan Machado rides the gray and/or roan. Magic Michael, Dai Vernon, and Truculent head the opposition in the Greenwood Cup. Foster, Cowans Enjoy Claiming Success with Injunction Foster and Cowans run another horse in the race following the Greenwood Cup, the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile Stakes, in which Injunction is their representative. In two starts since being plucked from an $80,000 allowance optional claimer on Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs, he won the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis and ran second in the R. A. "Cowboy" Jones Stakes at Ellis Park. Edgar Morales is aboard. Repo Rocks, Adero, Coastal Mission, and Film Star are other contenders in a competitive mile race around two turns. Turf Monster OverDrawn The $250,000 Turf Monster Stakes (G3T) drew an oversubscribed field to race five furlongs on turf despite criticism of the course this summer led by Bob Hutt, president of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, and a suspension of racing over it from late August until this week. A review of the course by Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and other officials earlier this month noted that divots had been filled with growing medium, though the course at the time had a "noticeable lack of moisture." Track officials attributed this to its irrigation system being down at the time. It was operational again Sept. 4, Parx officials told HISA, and the course was aerated. Leading entries include Souper Quest, Jean Valjean, and Alogon, who won the Aug. 24 Parx Dash Stakes marred by the fatal breakdown of Causes Trouble.