Parx: City of Weston rides rail to $63 upset in Gallant Bob

BENSALEM, Pa. - Coming to the quarter pole of Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx, jockey Paco Lopez, aboard 30-1 shot City of Weston, was looking for a way to get outside into the clear.

“My plan was the outside but I didn’t have a choice, so I had to come through on the rail,” Lopez said.

The rail didn’t open until the sixteenth pole, but when it did, Lopez shot City of Weston on through and he scored a three-quarter-length victory over 2-1 favorite Clearly Now in the Gallant Bob for 3-year-olds. It was a half-length back to pace-setting Black Hornet in third. He was followed in the order of finish by Zeewat, Rainbow Heir, Majestic Hussar, English Manor, Salutos Amigos, and Amarish.

Originally carded with 14 horses, the Gallant Bob ran with nine after the scratches of Res Judicata, Distinctiv Passion, Take It Like a Man, Heaven’s Runaway, and Purple Egg.

It was the fifth win from 21 starts for City of Weston, a son of Holy Bull owned by Cloud Nine Lumoni and trained by Antonio Sano. He hadn’t won since April 27 when took the Big Drama Stakes at Calder.

City of Weston raced close up to a relatively hot pace as Black Hornet set fractions of 21.43 seconds and 43.70 for the half-mile.

Lopez had to take a hold of his horse coming to the quarter pole and he had no room to get off the rail in the stretch until inside the eighth pole when Black Hornet, under Kendrick Carmouche, drifted off the fence.

City of Weston covered the six furlongs in 1:09.63 and returned $63.

** Earlier on the card, Roadhog ($5.80), under Kendrick Carmouche, rallied outside of pace-setting S S Skittles and held off a late run from Shetan to win the $75,000 Alphabet Soup Handicap for Pennsylvania-breds.

Roadhog, a 6-year-old gelding by Bowman’s Band owned by Ellendale Racing and trained by Elizabeth Merryman, covered the 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:41.47.