Parx Racing: Cotillion purse bumped to $1 million

Parx Racing has added a second million-dollar race to its stakes lineup for 2012.

The recently finalized stakes package, 26 stakes worth $5.3 million, includes a $250,000 bump to the Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies. Now a Grade 1 race for the first time, the $1 million Cotillion will be part of a blockbuster four-stakes package on Sept. 22 that also includes the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, the $300,000 Gallant Bob for 3-year-old sprinters, and the $75,000 Alphabet Soup at 1 1/16 miles on turf for Pennsylvania-breds.

The 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby also will carry a $50,000 bonus for any horse who has won a Triple Crown race, the Travers, or the Haskell.

The Grade 3 Turf Monster Handicap on Sept. 3, one of two Parx races with Win and You’re In status for this fall’s Breeders’ Cup, will be worth $350,000, an increase of $100,000 from last year.

In addition to the Gallant Bob, two other races received purse increases of $50,000 apiece, bringing the value of the Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Handicap for fillies and mares to $250,000 and the Grade 3 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds to $350,000.

Dropped from the schedule were the Brandywine, a $150,000 race for 2-year-old fillies, and a pair of $75,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-olds, the Peppy Addy and the Caught in the Rain.

The Grade 3 Greenwood Cup, a 1 1/2-mile dirt race that is a Win and You’re In event for the Breeders’ Cup, took a $50,000 cut and will now be worth $200,000.