Parx: Arlo sending mixed signals in Parx Tuesday feature

By the slimmest of margins, the 4-year-old gelding Arlo remains eligible for Tuesday’s $47,000 feature at Parx Racing, a first-level allowance at seven furlongs. Despite his nose loss at this same level and a 90 Beyer Speed Figure from his most recent race on Sept. 22 that exceeds the par of 84, Arlo may not be as strong of a win candidate as he appears.

Part of an uncoupled entry with turf-to-dirt, route-to-sprint runner Sir Cadian, Arlo is trained by Cynthia Reese. Over the past five years, Reese is an icy 2 for 48 with dirt runners switching from routes to sprints. That statistic hints that Arlo may be an underlay at any price.

The Reese-trained Sir Cadian will contend if he can regain the strong dirt form he displayed in the first three months of 2011. All of his last five starts, dating to mid-July, have been going long on the grass. With 2 wins and 7 seconds in 13 lifetime starts, Sir Cadian tends to be close often but seldom makes it to the winner’s circle.

The most intriguing horse in the field of eight is the New York-based Photon. A 3-year-old gelding trained by Richard Dutrow Jr., Photon will be coming back quickly after winning a one-turn mile for $30,000 claimers on Friday. From a small sampling, Dutrow is 3 for 9 with route-to-sprint horses coming back in seven days or less.

The deep closer Doublethestyle is also cutting back in distance following a runner-up effort against $16,000 starter allowance company on Sept. 22. With 3 wins and 6 seconds in 22 starts, Doublethestyle looks very similar on paper to Sir Cadian. His last win came in mid-May going a mile. In his only start this season in a first-level allowance, Doublethestyle was a distant sixth of seven.

Birdtale is liable to move forward making his second start following a layoff and second start against winners. He wired a group of maidens going a mile on Aug. 6, then rested until Sept. 30, when he rallied from seventh to finish fourth, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, going 6 1/2 furlongs. His trainer, Keith Lebarron, is clicking at 27 percent second time back following a layoff the past two seasons.

Valentino’s Gold, a three-time winner this season, got used up in a pace battle last time out. He has been primiarly racing in routes, but fits at this level based on his runner-up performance going 6 1/2 furlongs in June.