Parx: Cat Loves This a nice fit in feature

Cat Loves This has spent the bulk of his 19-race career running for a claiming price, dropping to as low as $12,500 in July 2010 at Woodbine. That merely made him eligible for a series of $12,500 starter allowances at his new home, Parx Racing, where the 5-year-old Cat Loves This collected three wins and three seconds between mid-March and late June.

As it turns out, maybe Cat Loves This is capable of rising up the class ladder without having to be entered in a claiming race. Based on his first attempt at allowance company, Cat Loves This fits nicely and appears to hold an advantage over his competition in Tuesday’s featured eighth race at Parx, a first-level allowance at six furlongs on the main track with a purse of $47,000.

The Beyer Speed Figure par for an entry-level allowance at Parx is 85. Cat Loves This was awarded an 86 for his game second-place effort at the same distance and class as Tuesday’s feature on July 25. In fact, three of Cat Loves This’s last four races have produced Beyers in the narrow range of 81 to 86. In comparison, none of the six rivals Cat Loves This faces on Tuesday shows a Beyer higher than 79 in their three most recent races.

The most intriguing of that group is the lightly raced 3-year-old Epic Move. He won his career debut by 3 3/4 lengths on June 27, then came back almost a month later to finish second against older runners in a nonwinners-of-two lifetime allowance. Of the four horses from that July 24 to race again, the fifth-place finisher, Alta Boy, won an allowance at Mountaineer, and the third-place horse, Vitedecreto, finished second going long in an allowance last week.

The field also includes Acopandproudofit, who finished directly behind Cat Loves This in each of his last two starts. That was back in the spring, however, and Acopyandproudofit has been off since May 24.

There is also Jambonied, who makes his second start off the claim for Parx’s leading trainer, Carlos Guerrero. Claimed out of a maiden win for $20,000, Jambonied got up by a nose going a mile in a first-level allowance restricted to Pennsylvania-breds. Guerrero is winning at a 40-percent clip this season at Parx and also shows 40-percent success with horses cutting back from routes to sprints over the past two seasons.