McKinzie's Pa. Derby triumph gives Smith million-dollar sweep

BENSALEM, Pa. – A half-hour after being placed first in the Cotillion on Midnight Bisou, Mike Smith put an aggressive ride on McKinzie to win the Pennsylvania Derby and gain a sweep of the two million-dollar Grade 1 races at Parx Racing on Saturday.

Smith put McKinzie, who was making his first start since March, right into the race. On the first turn of the 1 1/8 miles he took him very wide to gain a clear path outside the front-runners, Trigger Warning and Bravazo. He took command of the race nearing the stretch, then turned back a strong challenge from Axelrod in the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

McKinzie paid $6 in the nine-horse field and was timed in 1:52.05 over a dead racetrack that played slow all day and favored horses who raced out from the rail. McKinzie got a 107 Beyer Speed Figure.

To win going nine furlongs off a six-month layoff over a deep, tiring Parx track was truly impressive.

“He’s a good horse,” Smith said. “He’s still learning. That’s probably 80 percent of him. You get him to 90, 95, 97, watch out.”

McKinzie was trainer Bob Baffert’s top 3-year-old early in the year, but he went to the sidelines with a hock injury after a bumping match with Bolt d’Oro in the Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita.

Soon after, Justify went on his amazing run and won the Santa Anita Derby and swept the Triple Crown to retire undefeated.

“I always thought he was my top 3-year-old and then he got hurt and Justify came along,” Baffert said. “I’m glad I never had to run them against each other.

“It’s good to have him back. He ran great. The track was deep today.”

Baffert said he would get McKinzie back to California and decide where to run him next. He said the two races he was considering were the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3 or the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill later that month.

“I thought I had him ready today,” Baffert said of McKinzie. “Joe Talamo deserves a lot of credit. He’s been working him. I thought maybe he was 90 percent. I gave him some good stiff works.”

Axelrod came into the Pennsylvania Derby off back-to-back wins for trainer Mike McCarthy, but was taking a major jump in class. He finished with a strong run from sixth and in midstretch looked like he might get to McKinzie. But McKinzie felt the challenge coming and had another gear in reserve.

Pacesetting Trigger Warning finished third at 81-1, 7 1/2 lengths farther back. Hofburg, who added blinkers, lagged too far back and never reached contention. He finished fourth, a half-length behind Trigger Warning.