Pure Sensation seeks Parx Dash repeat

In a way, the Grade 3 Parx Dash on Saturday is a race within a race.

Pure Sensation likely will be favored as he seeks a repeat score in the five-furlong turf sprint. Richard’s Boy and Bold Thunder, two top challengers, have a score to settle after finishing a nose apart in the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup at Penn National and then having the order of finish reversed via disqualification.

Pure Sensation, trained by Christophe Clement, is one of the top turf sprinters in the country. Although he has finished fourth in both of his races this year, there have been extenuating circumstances.

Pure Sensation is best over firm ground, and he caught a “good” course in his season debut, the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint. On Belmont Stakes Day, he went too fast on the lead in the six-furlong Jaipur, a race he won in 2016.

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Pure Sensation set fractions of 21.43 seconds, 43.04, and 54.35 before being overtaken in the final furlong of a race that was timed in a North American-record 1:05.67. The previous record was the 1:06.76 set by Purse Sensation in the 2016 Jaipur.

Pure Sensation should enjoy the cutback to five furlongs Saturday. Kendrick Carmouche, a five-time leading rider at Parx before shifting to New York, has the mount, just as he did for Pure Sensation’s Parx Dash victory a year ago.

Bold Thunder ran his best race in a long time in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup. He set a fast pace of 21.78 and 43.81 while being tracked by Richard’s Boy, then held on to finish first by a nose while covering five furlongs in 55.75. Unfortunately for his connections, he ducked out sharply from a left-handed whip by Irad Ortiz Jr. in midstretch and herded Richard’s Boy out several paths.

Trainer Mike Farro doesn’t necessarily agree with the stewards’ decision to disqualify his horse but acknowledged that it was a judgment call. He is glad to see the 7-year-old Bold Thunder back in top form.

“We did a throat operation on him last summer, and we’ve freshened him up, which he needed,” Farro said. “He’s come back so happy. He’s a lot happier than he has been in a long time, and when he’s right, he is very hard to beat at five furlongs.”

Richard’s Boy earned $113,600 and Bold Thunder $39,200 in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup. The purse has not yet been distributed, however, as Richard’s Boy tested positive for a “trace level” of methamphetamine, according to his trainer, Peter Miller, who has requested a split-sample test be performed.

Miller, who is based in Southern California, said that in 30 years of training, he has never had a horse test positive for a prohibited substance. He believes the positive test is the result of outside contamination.

“When I found out about this, I wasn’t going to come back for this race,” Miller said. “But my owner said, ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, we should go.’ So, we’re coming back to Pennsylvania.”

Both Richard’s Boy and Bold Thunder are being treated as winners of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup in the weights for the Parx Dash. They each will carry 124 pounds and concede five pounds to the other 10 entrants.

Paco Lopez, who rode Richard’s Boy in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, will be aboard Bold Thunder on Saturday. Miller is sending in rider Edwin Maldonado from California.

Other contenders include Pool Winner, who went 4 for 6 last year and won his 5-year-old debut at Monmouth on June 23; Mongolian Saturday, the winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint; and Amelia’s Wild Ride, who finished third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Richard’s Boy, in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico on May 19.