Parx Racing: Marilyn's Guy makes first start off claim for Lake

As a 6-year-old early last season, Marilyn’s Guy earned the most prestigious victory of his career when he outfought San Pablo by a neck to capture the Grade 3 Excelsior at Aqueduct. Less than five months later, however, Marilyn’s Guy couldn’t win while running for a $35,000 claiming tag.

When Marilyn’s Guy resurfaced 13 months later at Parx Racing, trainer Scott Lake was willing to put in a $25,000 claim on behalf of client Joseph Besecker, a show of faith that at age 7, Marilyn’s Guy’s gas tank is not yet on empty.

Lake will get a good idea of whether Marilyn’s Guy was a wise purchase when he makes his first start for his new connections in Monday’s $50,000 feature at Parx. Marilyn’s Guy will break from post 9 in a field of 10 horses going a mile and 70 yards in a second-level allowance that also is open to $25,000 claimers. A nine-time winner in 30 starts, Marilyn’s Guy is the only horse in the field entered for the $25,000 tag.

Although Marilyn’s Guy finished fourth in his comeback, he was up close at the stretch call of what proved to be a key one-mile race at the same level as he will compete Monday. Runner-up On the Loose Again returned to win a second-level allowance with an 89 Beyer Speed Figure on Oct. 22. The eighth-place finisher, Pryce’s Pose, scored in a six-furlong sprint for $20,000 claimers with an 88 Beyer.

The chief challenger may be Divine Child, a 5-year-old who defeated slightly tougher competition two starts ago at Monmouth Park. Divine Child fits on class, but he has been absent from the races for two months and does not show a published workout. But the last time he came back from a similar break, Divine Child was a good second in a first-level allowance going a mile at Penn National.

D’marin failed to do any running when returning from 14 months on the sidelines in a turf route at the Meadowlands. He may improve second time back while switching to dirt, where he is 3 for 9. In his second start back from a layoff last season, D’Marin won a $25,000 starter allowance at Monmouth.

Seventeenohsix and Keep the Canoli, a pair of 3-year-olds exiting stakes, have not run a recent race fast enough to stamp themselves a serious contender in this spot.