Parnac cleared to race in N.Y., entered in Flower Bowl

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Parnac, one of two horses scratched by the New York Racing Association out of an Aug. 11 allowance race, has been cleared to run in New York and was entered Wednesday by trainer Christophe Clement for Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl.

Parnac finished third in the Robert G. Dick Memorial on July 1 at Delaware Park. The first two finishers of that race, Sopran Basiliea and Ever Summer – suffered catastrophic injuries in their next starts, both over the Saratoga turf course. A third horse out of that race, last-place finisher Frivole, was pulled up in the early stages of the same allowance in which Ever Summer suffered her injury. A fourth horse out of the Dick was scratched out of that same Aug.11 Saratoga allowance by a NYRA veterinarian after the horse had gotten loose in the barn area the morning of her race.

Citing the “highly unusual confluence” of circumstances, NYRA required that any horse coming out of the Dick had to undergo a PET-scan, at NYRA’s expense, before being permitted to run here. Parnac underwent that scan, had the results reviewed by NYRA vets and state officials, and was cleared to run, per a NYRA spokesperson.

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Clement said that after being scratched out of the allowance, he turned his sights on the Flower Bowl or the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon. Asked if he was annoyed at having to scratch from that allowance and then undergo a PET scan, Clement said, “I don’t care. I might win the Flower Bowl instead. . . . Let’s hope something good comes out of it.”

Clement also entered Amazing Grace in the Flower Bowl, which drew only four runners. Amazing Grace finished third behind McKulick and War Like Goddess in the Grade 2 Glens Falls here Aug. 3. While McKulick is back in the Flower Bowl, War Like Goddess was forced to miss it due to a temperature.

Tamarama, making her U.S. debut, was the fourth horse entered in the Flower Bowl, which offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

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