Flameaway's road show comes to Smarty Jones Stakes

The durable and consistent Flameaway was a familiar face on this year’s Triple Crown trail. His travels now take him to Parx Racing, where he tops a field of eight 3-year-olds, including fellow classics alum Diamond King and recent graded stakes winner Axelrod, in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes.

Saturday’s nine-race card leads into the biggest month of the season for Parx, which is returning from an annual mid-August break to conduct live racing on a Sunday-through-Tuesday schedule. The Smarty Jones serves as the local prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, which has developed into a major event on the 3-year-old schedule. The Pennsylvania Derby has been won in recent years by champions Will Take Charge (2013) and West Coast (2017), as well as Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern (2014). The Pennsylvania Derby co-anchors the Sept. 22 card with the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, this year expected to be headlined by Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl.

Flameaway will be seeking his fifth stakes win in the 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones. Two came in routes on dirt – the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland last fall and the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs earlier this year. The Scat Daddy colt was second in both the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, then finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby. Flameaway sat fourth at the quarter pole of the Kentucky Derby but faded late.

“I gave him a lot of time off after the Derby because the Derby was hard on everybody,” trainer Mark Casse said.

Flameaway returned in late June to finish sixth in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown. He most recently was second, beaten three-quarters of a length by classic-placed Tenfold, in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.

Flameaway, who usually is forwardly placed, drew post 7 with Jose Lezcano named to ride.

Diamond King drew post 5 under Frankie Pennington, who has ridden him in all but one start, that being when he finished seventh in the Preakness Stakes. Trained locally by John Servis, the Quality Road colt has won a pair of stakes, including the Federico Tesio in April at Pimlico. He most recently was fifth in the Ohio Derby.

Axelrod left his California base for the first time last month and won the Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand by a head. Trained by Michael McCarthy, he was previously second in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita.

Title Ready was third in the Indiana Derby last out, behind Axelrod and Travers-bound Trigger Warning. Before that, he finished fourth in the Ohio Derby.

First Mondays, unbeaten in two career outings, is stepping into a stakes for the first time. Wait for It, Cowboy Night, and Transistor complete the field.

Page McKenney sharp

Saturday’s card at Parx also includes the $100,000 Salvatore M. DeBunda PTHA President’s Cup, led by the popular Pennsylvania-bred Page McKenney who is looking to extend his local and regional dominance.

The 8-year-old gelding had a productive campaign this spring and summer at Monmouth Park to push his earnings past $1.9 million, winning the Grade 3 Salvator Mile, finishing second in the Grade 2 Philip H. Iselin Stakes, and, most recently, running third in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup. Page McKenney is 6 for 7 at Parx and is trained by Mary Eppler.

The President’s Cup is part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series and awards points to the top finishers on a 10-7-5-2-3 scale. Page McKenney leads the older horse dirt-route division, and a solid performance could move him into the lead on the overall championship leaderboard.

Page McKenney drew the inside post for the President’s Cup under Horacio Karamanos as a 2-1 morning-line favorite. Aztec Sense, a multiple stakes winner this year for Jorge Navarro, was installed at 5-2 and breaks from post 2 under Kendrick Carmouche.