Divining Rod, Souper Colossal meet in Smarty Jones
Grade 3 winner Divining Rod and the rapidly improving Souper Colossal, the runner-up in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby earlier this month, figure to vie for favoritism in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds at Parx Racing.
The mile-and-70-yard Smarty Jones, the local prep for the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 19, tops an 11-race card that kicks off the eight-week fall festival at Parx with bigger-than-normal purses. Saturday’s program offers cumulative purses of more than $1 million. In addition to the stakes, there are five allowance or optional-claiming events with purses between $86,000 and $100,000.
Divining Rod comes into Saturday’s race off two close losses as the favorite in the Ohio Derby and Grade 2 Indiana Derby. He also was a distant third behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Preakness. He’s seeking his first win since scoring by three lengths in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland in April.
Souper Colossal missed most of the first half of the season while recuperating from a virus. After two turf sprints to begin his 3-year-old campaign, Souper Colossal has flourished since trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. switched him to dirt routes, beaten 1 1/4 lengths in the Long Branch at Monmouth Park and 1 1/2 lengths in the West Virginia Derby. He will be racing with blinkers for the first time Saturday.
Island Town won his first start going two turns in the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs, then regressed when he caught a sloppy track in the Indiana Derby.
Bluegrass Singer returns to Parx for the first time since winning the Parx Derby in May. He is stretching out after two dull efforts in graded sprints.
◗ Freestyler, whose four-race winning streak ended when he was third in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup, and Ain’t Got Time, the wire-to-wire winner of an overnight stakes at Delaware Park six weeks ago, head a field of seven older horses going a mile and 70 yards in a no-conditions allowance worth $100,000 (race 7).
◗ Social Inclusion, third last year in the Wood Memorial, Preakness, and Woody Stephens before being sidelined by a tendon injury, makes his first start for locally based trainer Juan Guerrero in a second-level, optional $25,000 claimer with an $88,000 purse (race 5, 1 1/16 miles.)
SMARTY JONES S. (RACE 10)
KEY CONTENDERS
Divining Rod (Last 3 Beyers: 91-97-90)
◗ He has never been worse than third in eight lifetime starts but finishes third far more often than he wins or runs second.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: From a limited sampling, trainer Arnaud Delacour is 2 for 4 (100 percent in the money) over the past five years with dirt-route runners at Parx.
Souper Colossal (Last 3 Beyers: 93-86-81)
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Trainer Plesa is 2 for 7 over the past five years with a $2.12 return on investment with horses in blinkers for the first time and in races worth $60,000 or more. That includes a victory in last year’s Grade 1 Woodward with Itsmyluckyday.
Bluegrass Singer (Last 3 Beyers: 85-44-74)
◗ He has a license to improve while returning to a dirt route for the first time since winning the Parx Derby nearly four months ago.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Note that trainer Marcus Vitali is 12 for 53 (23 percent) over the past five years with 3-year-olds switching from sprints to routes on dirt while back in fewer than 30 days.
Island Town (Last 3 Beyers: 85-88-86)
◗ He’s dangerous if he can recapture the form he displayed in the Matt Winn, the only time in seven career starts he raced on the pace. But there’s other speed in here, and he doesn’t project to get an uncontested lead.