Further Ado likely favorite after Pennsylvania Derby draw, but Rodriguez sees chance to upset
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Rudy Rodriguez was an assistant and an exercise rider for trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. in 2004 when Love of Money upset the Pennsylvania Derby at 12-1. Rodriguez said he recalled that Dutrow sent him and the horse to Philadelphia Park well in advance of the race to get the horse some experience over the track.
Twenty-two years later, Rodriguez finds himself at Parx Racing well in advance of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby with his own 3-year-old Talk to Me Jimmy looking to pull an upset of his own.
Talk to Me Jimmy, the New York Derby winner, drew post 5 in a field of 11 3-year-olds entered Sunday for Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby in which Further Ado, the lone Grade 1 winner in the field, is likely to be favored.
Talk to Me Jimmy's connections resisted the urge to run in the Belmont Stakes and the Travers, opting to stay in restricted company during the summer. In July, Talk to Me Jimmy defeated the distance-challenged Sculcos Folly in the New York Derby at Finger Lakes. Sent off as the favorite in the Albany Stakes at Saratoga, Talk to Me Jimmy got away poorly and wound up chasing Tricky Business around the track, finishing second, beaten three lengths.
“It was unfortunate that he didn’t break that good, but those things happen. I thought he still ran a very good race,” Rodriguez said. “He went wide the first turn, he went wide the second turn, it was good the way he finished up.”
Rodriguez shipped Talk to Me Jimmy from Saratoga to Parx on Tuesday and was planning to breeze him on Sunday, but the weather made for less-than-ideal track conditions. Rodriguez said he will wait for Monday or Tuesday to work him.
“Everybody says you need to breeze one time over here, so I’m trying to do whatever I can to help the horse out,” Rodriguez said.
Talk to Me Jimmy will likely be a 15-1 shot in Pennsylvania Derby field that includes graded winners Further Ado, The Puma, Zihnal and Iron Honor.
Further Ado, trained by Brad Cox, won the Blue Grass by 11 lengths, finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby, and then won the Grade 3 Matt Winn. Most recently, he finished fifth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Haskell, run over a sloppy track.
Iron Honor and The Puma finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Haskell and are back in this field. While Iron Honor, who in March won the Grade 3 Gotham, hasn’t run since the Haskell, The Puma finished fourth in the Travers.
Iron Honor, trained by Chad Brown, and The Puma, trained by Gustavo Delgado, will both be getting blinkers for the Pennsylvania Derby, run at 1 1/8 miles.
The Pennsylvania Derby will go as race 14 on a 15-race card that begins at 10:30 a.m. and includes the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies.
The Pennsylvania Derby field, from the rail out, with riders: Zihnal (John Velazquez), Iron Honor (Jose Ortiz), Our Moneyman (Manny Franco), Igniter (Luis Saez), Talk to Me Jimmy (Ruben Silvera), The Puma (Javier Castellano), Further Ado (Flavien Prat), Freedom’s Echo (TBD), Sassmaster (Tyler Gaffalione), Micanopy (Paco Lopez), Ponder and Dream (Mychel Sanchez).
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