Jerardi: As usual, Parx Dash all about Ben’s Cat

When (if?) Ben’s Cat is retired, they should rename the Parx Dash the “Ben’s Cat Dash.” Ben’s Cat has run in the Dash and the Turf Monster, run on Labor Day at Parx, in each of the last four years.

He is going for career win No. 30 in Saturday’s running of the Parx Dash. Ben’s Cat has won the race the last three years after losing by a head in 2011. I have absolutely no idea how Ben Cat’s won the Dash last year, as he looked hopelessly beaten with 100 yards to go.

There is all that, and there is this: When was the last time a 9-year-old had consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures? That would be Ben’s Cat in the Turf Sprint (103) at Pimlico the day before the Preakness and again May 30 in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup (100) at Penn National.

By the numbers, Ben’s Cat is better than he has ever been. Prior to those two races, he had gotten just one triple-digit Beyer in 31 grass races. And what horse gets his best figures as a 9-year-old?

So, yes, I like Ben’s Cat in this Parx Dash, but this is no easy spot. The five-furlong race will be over so fast that good and bad luck likely will determine the outcome. Ben’s Cat had good luck at Pimlico when Bold Thunder bore out in the stretch with a big lead. Ben’s Cat had bad luck at Penn National when he had to wait for room at the top of the stretch and lost by a nose.

It is probably going to take about a 100 Beyer to win the Parx Dash. Bold Thunder, who starts right next to Ben’s Cat as speed on the rail, certainly can do the number. You have to go back a few years, but Tightend Touchdown has a career best of 107. The Australian-bred Power Alert has a pair of triple-digit numbers in five American races. Amelia’s Wild Ride just ran the race of his life when holding off Ben’s Cat in the Governor’s Cup.

Regardless of which horse wins, this race, like every race when Ben’s Cat is in starting gate, is about the horse just shy of $2.5 million in career earnings. A month before King Leatherbury takes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, the horse who made everybody in the sport look back at the scope of his career, Ben’s Cat – his horse of a lifetime – runs on.

An hour south of Parx at Delaware Park, the Delaware Oaks will be run 100 minutes after the Dash. Kentucky Oaks winner Lovely Maria won her maiden at Delaware last September with a 60 Beyer. Her only backward move since was in the mud at Remington Park in December. Other than that, it has been a straight-ahead Beyer line, culminating in a career-best 94 at Churchill Downs in the Oaks.

Lovely Maria has not run since that May 1 race, but that appears to have been by design. Trainer Larry Jones pointed her for the Kentucky Oaks all year, and the Delaware Oaks is the start of her second half of the year.

Lovely Maria dominates the Delaware Oaks field in Beyers and accomplishment. Stellar Wind was fourth in the Kentucky Oaks and came back to win with a 91 Beyer. So, all the evidence points to Lovely Maria because none of the other fillies has hit 90 on the Beyer scale.

Jones’s other filly in the race, White Clover, just ran the race of her life in winning the Our Mims, the local prep for this race, getting a career-best 84 Beyer. She looks like she could get loose on the lead again, so if she can improve her figure again, she is dangerous.

Danzatrice got an 87 when she won the Parx Oaks on Derby Day and tried hard from a difficult post when fourth in the Acorn.

The Robert Dick Memorial at 1 3/8 miles on grass will be run just before the Delaware Oaks. It is probably going to take a 90 to win. Rosalind, trained by the scorching Chad Brown, got an 89 two races back when she won the Sheepshead Bay at this distance. These days, I add five points to all Brown horses when handicapping races.

If it is not Rosalind, it might be Kitten’s Point, who won the 1 1/2-mile Bewitch on April 24. Her four Beyers this year are 91, 90, 89, and 90. The third-, fourth-, and ninth-place horses from the Bewitch all came back to win and improve their Beyers by an average of seven points, so that win by Kitten’s Point is even better than it seemed at the time.