Juvenile, Futurity recast as 3-year-old debuts
Thanks to Mother Nature, the Parx Juvenile and Futurity, normally seven-furlong races restricted to 2-year-olds, instead feature newly turned sophomores on Tuesday at Parx Racing.
Both races were rescheduled after last week’s racing at Parx was abandoned due to freezing temperatures that caused unsafe track conditions.
Unbeaten colts Recruiter and Winning Time head a promising cast in the Parx Juvenile.
Recruiter is 3 for 3 and was made the 5-2 morning-line choice. A gate-to-wire winner in his first two races for trainer Cal Lynch, Recruiter rated just off the early pace in the James F. Lewis III at Laurel Park on Nov. 12. When given his cue, Recruiter willingly bounded to the lead, and stayed there. He received a career-best 84 Beyer.
“He’s very talented,” assistant trainer Anthony Lynch told Daily Racing Form from the Lewis winner’s circle. “The day he walked into the barn, he stood out among all of our 2-year-olds.”
Recruiter drew post 8 and should be close to the pace under jockey Mychel Sanchez.
Winning Time faces open company after beating Pennsylvania-breds in his first two starts. A son of Winchill, Winning Time demolished a field that included two next-out winners when taking his debut by 11 lengths on Nov. 7. He then gamely overcame race-long pace pressure to grab the Pennsylvania Nursery 22 days later.
“He seems like he has a brain about rating,” trainer Kate DeMasi said. “When he was next to that other horse” – pacesetter All Eyes On You – “you didn’t need to take a big hold of him and choke him down. He was kind and showed a lot of determination.”
Winning Time should be among the pacesetters, if not the outright speed of the race.
Daydreaming Boy, a son of Goldencents trained by Lou Linder Jr., won his maiden second out by 7 1/2 lengths at Parx over muddy going on Nov. 1.
The beaten favorite in Parx’s Future Stars on Dec. 5, Daydreaming Boy stumbled at the start before finishing 3 1/2 lengths behind undefeated Howgreatisnate.
“We wanted to be off the pace,” Linder said. “But Mychel [jockey Sanchez] said when he stumbled and picked himself up, he had the bit and dragged him up there. I think that took a little away from his finish.”
Owned by Bran-Jam Stable and David Clark, Linder plucked Daydreaming Boy for $15,000 at OBS in June. “Our budget was way more than what we spent,” Linder said. “Whatever you ask of him, he does things very smartly.”
Ninetyprcentmaddie had his three-race unbeaten streak snapped by Winning Time in the Nursery. He drew the rail for the rematch with Paco Lopez aboard.
“For whatever reason, he wasn’t quite himself,” said trainer Butch Reid, who also mentioned that Ninetyprcentmaddie might not have liked racing inside. “He came back and breezed sensationally.”
El de Chimi moves back to dirt after two stakes tries on turf. V Mart, Hot Love, and John Dutton complete the field.
Parx Futurity
Girl Trouble seeks her third consecutive victory in the Parx Futurity. A New Jersey-bred daughter of Fast Anna trained by Reid, Girl Trouble won her last two starts at Parx by a combined 14 lengths.
She became a stakes winner with a six-length triumph in the Future Stars Filly on Nov. 29 and will break from post 10 in an 11-horse field under Lopez.
“It’s an opportunity to put her in a stalking position, maybe sitting third or fourth on the outside,” Reid said.
Interpolate, a $300,000 daughter of Into Mischief, ships down from New York for trainer Chad Brown following a second-out maiden win on Oct. 14 during the Belmont at the Big A meet. She was one of four next-out winners to emerge from her debut – the sixth race at Saratoga on Aug. 14 – including race winner Chocolate Gelato, who won the Grade 1 Frizette in her subsequent start.
Kendrick Carmouche pilots Interpolate from post 6.
Alexis’s Storm finished second in the Astoria at Belmont Park on June 9, then received a break by design, according to trainer Chuck Lawrence. She returned to the races with a solid second-place effort in a first-level allowance at Laurel on Nov. 14, finishing ahead of stakes winner Chickieness.
“We were elated to run that well first time back against a quality field,” Lawrence said. “We have high expectations.”
Lawrence always had high hopes for Alexis’s Storm and believes she’ll continue to improve as the distances increase. “Everything she did from Day One was professional and precocious.”
Jeiron Barbosa, a contender for the Eclipse Award as champion apprentice rider of 2022, guides Alexis’s Storm from post 4.
Stakes-placed fillies Lindalovesgold, Gold Medal Anna, and Blome join Empress Ariana, Majestic Creed, Can’t Complain, Shiny Slam, and My Sweet Khalie in the starting gate.
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