Prestidigitation, Lion Attack have favorable trainer angles

Two strong trainer angles stand out in Monday’s featured ninth race at Parx Racing, a second-level allowance scheduled for six furlongs on the main track.

Prestidigitation, shipping in from Monmouth Park for trainer Scott Volk, and Lion Attack, who has run well all three times he has run locally for trainer Mark Shuman, both have enough talent to win in this spot.

The 5-year-old Prestidigitation, claimed for $25,000 in March, is 0 for 4 since arriving in Volk’s barn on the Jersey Shore, including a tough beat when he was nosed out for the win despite posting a 100 Beyer Speed Figure two starts ago. What makes Prestidigitation dangerous is Volk’s propensity to win with runners he ships to the suburban Philadelphia track. Over the past two seasons, Volk has gone 8 for 21 with ship-ins, a 38 percent hit rate, with a highly profitable $3.94 return on investment.

In local allowance and starter allowance events, Volk has 4 wins and 3 seconds in 8 starts, including wins by Todd Got Even at 7-2 in June and Miles Heir at 2-1 in mid-September.

As for Lion Attack, the 3-year-old has raced at Penn National, Aqueduct, Charles Town, Monmouth, and Delaware since January, but he is 2 for 3 at Parx Racing and a collective 1 for 8 elsewhere. He comes off a one-length score against first-level allowance foes at Parx on Sept. 26. Shuman shows a 9-for-30 record (30 percent) with horses going for two allowance wins in a row the past two years.

The probable favorite is Neeyo, a lightly raced 4-year-old who has raced just once since September 2009. After going 3 for 3 as a 3-year-old, including a win in the Peppy Addy Stakes for Pennsylvania-breds, Neeyo was off for a full year before returning to set the pace until deep stretch when finishing second in a second-level allowance sprint on Sept. 21. He was scratched from the $75,000 Nepal Stakes at Penn National Friday night in favor of this spot.

Neeyo’s uncoupled stablemate, One Ocean Drive, ran a big race to win a $25,000 starter allowance locally two starts ago. He was last of five in the Hard Spun Stakes at Delaware Park last Wednesday.

Lone Cypress, claimed twice in his last four starts, makes his second start for trainer Keith Lebarron. He was an even third at this same level in his first local appearance on Sept. 21.