Parx: Royal Currier takes Valley Forge

Royal Currier, who set a six-furlong track record when he upset the $250,000 Gallant Bob at 18-1 in his previous trip to Parx Racing, changed tactics to turn the tables on fellow 3-year-old sprinter Poseidon’s Warrior in Tuesday’s $75,000 Valley Forge Stakes.

Instead of shooting for the early lead, as he did in his 3 3/4-length score in the Gallant Bob in September and again in last month’s Le Bagoter, a race at Penn National in which he faded to second behind Poseidon’s Warrior, Royal Currier was kept slightly off the early pace by jockey Stewart Elliott in the six-furlong Valley Forge. Part of a four-way fight for the lead after the first-half mile in 45.42 seconds, Royal Currier ($7.20) made a sweeping four-wide move to take the lead appoaching the eighth pole and drew clear by 1 3/4 lengths.

J J’s Lucky Train, winner of the Grade 3 Bay Shore last April, finished second while making his first start since Sept. 5. Poseidon’s Warrior, seeking his third straight stakes win, was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third as the 3-5 favorite in a field reduced to six by two scratches.

A son of Red Bullet trained by Patricia Farro for Mat Stables, Royal Currier ran the distance on a fast track in 1:10.06 for his eighth victory in 19 starts.