Pennsylvania Nursery, one of five stakes, kicks off mandatory-payout Philly Big 5
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Trainer Butch Reid entered three juveniles in the $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes on Wednesday at Parx Racing, casting a long shadow in the statebred field of eight. The trainer’s best shot could be Flyin Hawaiian, who will make his first start as a gelding after finishing well behind in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga in September.
“He was a handful in the paddock, got a little washy on us,” Reid said. “So he’s since been castrated since that start. His first try as a gelding, and he’s been training up for it beautifully.”
The Pennsylvania Nursery is one of five stakes at Parx on Wednesday. There also is a mandatory payout in the 50-cent Philly Big 5, which is comprised of the five stakes. Coming into Monday’s card, the carryover stood at $98,116.
Flyin Hawaiian might not have been a match for undefeated colt Ted Noffey in New York, but Flyin Hawaiian should feel more at home in statebred company at Parx. In his second start in July, the gelding won a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at his home track by 8 1/2 lengths, earning a 76 Beyer Speed Figure.
Of Reid’s remaining duo, Mailata could easily prove to be more than a sentimental favorite for football fans in the area. After two middling efforts in shorter sprints, Reid stretched the colt out to a mile in his third start at Parx, where he improved to win on the front end by 2 1/2 lengths.
Connor’s Crew, a two-race maiden, was not originally entered as a serious contender, but Reid has noticed some improvement since adding blinkers in the morning.
Shamrock Rose
In John Servis’s earliest days training, he thought that it was always best to have a debut winner. Over time, however, he has discovered that experience in maiden company is often a benefit, and his two juvenile fillies seem seasoned and well-prepared for the $100,000 Shamrock Rose Stakes on Wednesday at Parx.
“The older and smarter I got, I realized that it really benefited the horse a lot more, being able to give them a little bit of an education,” Servis said.
Bounce, formerly based in Kentucky for trainer Bill Mott, will make her first start for Servis against other Pennsylvania-breds. After two starts in salty fields in Kentucky, she broke through to defeat two rivals in a field taken off the turf on Oct. 21 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
“I know the last race was in Indiana, but coming from those Kentucky races into a Pa.-bred race, I think she fits a lot better,” Servis said.
While Servis gets to know Bounce, he has had far more time to work with Coppedge, an outside contender coming off a 5 3/4-length victory in her second statebred start at Parx. The local filly broke slowly in her debut in September, but she was much sharper the following month and kicked clear on the far turn.
Servis’s pair could be joined by two fillies entered by trainer Cal Lynch, who cross-entered both in the $50,000 Blue Mountain Stakes at Penn National on Wednesday. Keystone State, undefeated in two starts at Delaware Park and Penn National, is the morning-line favorite in both races and drew the rail for the six-furlong sprint at Parx.
C’est Chouette, Lynch’s other cross-entered filly, switched to dirt in her second start at Delaware and won a waived maiden-claiming race by 4 1/4 lengths.
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