Dunleavy: How I'd play Parx for Saturday, Sept. 20

I’m as interested in the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion at Parx on Saturday as anybody, but my best plays on the card aren’t in those races.

The horses I like most from a wagering perspective are Your Pace Or Mine in the third race, a 2-year-old maiden at a mile and 70 yards, and Sunset District in the seventh, a first-level allowance at seven furlongs. Parx has doubled its typical overnight purses for Pennsylvania Derby Day and the maiden race has a purse of $88,000 and the allowance race is worth $90,000

Having said that, here is my take on the major stakes of the day:

Cotillion

Untapable was the best 3-year-old filly in the country before she took on males in the Haskell and there is no reason to believe she still isn’t. Trainer Steve Asmussen has given her plenty of time to recover from the Haskell and has put a nice series of works into her.

Cassatt will be able to wrest control of the race from expected front-runner Jojo Warrior and has a good chance to fill out the exacta. Look for Sweet Reason and Joint Return to also run well.

Pennsylvania Derby

This is a tough comeback start for California Chrome, who is sure to have a lot of sentimental money wagered on him. Bayern is expected to go to the lead and California Chrome will be tracking him. I’m not so sure he will have an easy time going by Bayern, however, and both could tire in the stretch.

Tapiture and Candy Boy would benefit most from that scenario and there is not very much separating the two of them, even though Tapiture overcame trouble to beat Candy Boy by a nose in the West Virginia Derby.

It should be remembered that Candy Boy was flown from California to Louisville and then vanned 370 miles to Mountaineer Racetrack, a difficult trip. Getting to Parx was much easier.

Gallant Bob

Fast Anna is the most likely winner but there is a lot of speed in this race and something is going to have to give. With the blinkers coming off Fast Anna, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sit just off the pace early, which could work to his advantage. I am only guessing here, though.

Race 3 pick three play

Your Pace Or Mine (No. 7) was given nine works by 31-year-old trainer Niall Saville, who decided to take him to Saratoga for his debut. He raced in early contention while wide over a muddy track in that Aug. 22 race and then quickly retreated.

He gets first-time Lasix Saturday, hinting that he may have bled, and comes into the race off two works, one at five furlongs and one at three furlongs, a very nice pattern for a first-time Lasix user.

I also like that he will stretch out to two turns here. I see him making the lead or racing close to the pace and turning in an improved performance in this relatively soft race. Sheldon Russell, who recently won the Japan Racing Association Stakes for Saville aboard Legendary, has the mount.

I will bet him to win and single him in a pick three play.

In the fourth race, a money allowance for fillies and mares at six furlongs, I will use four horses in this order of preference: Winning Image (5), Wildcat Lily (2), Monaguska (1), and Estrada’s Girl (3).

I will single Engine in the fifth, a first-level allowance race at seven furlongs.

Engine is trained by Chad Brown, who is 12 for 16 at Parx this year. Engine has a number of layoff lines in his past performances but the fact is he has stayed in steady training since last fall, according to his workouts.

He won his maiden at Parx on April 12 while making his fifth career start and then worked steadily until July 2 when he won a nonwinners-of –two $50,000 claiming race in the slop at Belmont Park going 7 1/2 furlongs. Similarly, he has been in steady training during the 11 weeks between that race and Saturday.

Brown steps him up to an entry-level allowance, which he appears ready for, and the seven-furlong distance seems just right. Javier Castellano rides.

The $1 ticket:

$4 total: 7/ 1-2-3-5 /1

Race 6 pick three play

My key to this sequence comes in race 7, a first-level allowance in which Sunset District (No. 11) returns from an awful effort in a July 27 allowance race at Monmouth Park. Sunset District never extended himself in that race and I don’t know why. Trainer Derek Ryan has given him two bullet works since and I will trust that he has him ready for a representative performance.

I like Sunset District because of his maiden win two starts back. He rallied from off the pace to win by three-quarters of a length with jockey Paco Lopez taking him in hand late.

Three horses from that eight-horse field came back to win their next starts. The runner-up, None Like Nolan, won a Saratoga maiden race by a nose for trainer Todd Pletcher. Both Sunset District and None Like Nolan are owned by Stonestreet Stables and they raced as an entry in Sunset District’s maiden win.

The other return winners were fourth-place finisher Purr Imagination, who won a Monmouth maiden race for Pletcher, and Padre Gaz, who won a New Jersey-bred maiden race at Monmouth.

In the sixth race, a $25,000 starter allowance at a mile and 70 yards, I will use He’s So Fine (3) and Yougotthatgoingforu (1).

He’s So Fine has won two straight at this level for trainer Ramon Preciado since being claimed for $30,000 at Churchill Downs in June.

Yougotthatgoingforu stumbled at the break of his last race, the Roanoke for Pennsylvania-breds, pressed the eventual winner, Traffic Light, on the lead and then weakened to fourth. In his prior start he won a second level, $25,000 optional claiming race by seven lengths.

In the eighth and final leg of the sequence, I will use Bernadine (8) and Catch My Drift (5).

Bernadine stretches out to a mile and 70 yards in this second-level optional claimer and should be on the lead for trainer Eddie Plesa. Catch My Drift won the first two starts of her career, including a Parx maiden race, before finishing seventh last out for Chad Brown in the Grade 1 Alabama. She will do her best running late.

The $1 ticket:

$4 total: 1-3/11/5-8