Reid poised to sweep four Pennsylvania-bred stakes at Parx

Since 2020, Butch Reid has run more horses in Parx Racing stakes than any other trainer – by far. Reid during the span has 156 such starters, the next-highest total is 77. Reid is not merely running in these races but winning them: His 34 Parx stakes winners over the last six calendar years laps the training field, almost three times more than the second-highest total.

Reid will add seven more stakes starters Saturday, when Parx hosts four $100,000 statebred-restricted dirt races on Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races, and a sweep is in play.

Reid’s sequence starts with Maximus Meridius in the six-furlong Banjo Picker. The morning line lists the horse as 7-2 third choice; he’s the likely favorite and most likely winner.

Next up, the Lil E. Tee over a mile and 70 yards and restricted to 3-year-olds. Reid entered three – Ponder and Dream, Mailata, and Flyin Hawaiian – and said he intends to start them all. The morning line has Our Magical Moon the 2-1 favorite, but that’s not happening. Ponder and Dream will be the chalk, Mailata might wind up second choice.

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The third stakes in the sequence, the Storm Cat for older horses over a mile and 70 yards, might require heavier lifting. Reid sends out Uncle Heavy, who hasn’t won since landing the Withers in February 2024 but rates a solid chance nonetheless.

Reid entered three in the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial for older fillies and mares but will send one of them, Disco Ebo, to a Friday start at Monmouth. That leaves Jeanne Marie, who has an outside chance, and Carmelina, who has an excellent one.

“We’ve kind of been pointing to this day for a couple months,” Reid said. “We’ve freshened some horses up for this.”

Maximus Meridius is one of them. A 5-year-old gelding, Maximus Meridius last raced Feb. 4 in a stakes-level Parx allowance. Sent off the 7-10 favorite, Maximus Meridius had already dropped out of contention when his rider had to check and correct to avoid a fallen horse.

“We’d been looking for an opportunity to give him a break, which he hadn’t really had in a long time,” Reid said.

Maximus Meridius has won half his dozen Parx starts and is a four-time open stakes winner. Reid got him back working June 6, and the gelding has packed together six tightly spaced breezes. Mychel Sanchez, named on all of Reid’s most obvious chances Saturday, has the mount. Winning Time and Twisted Ride lead the opposition but can’t match Maximus Meridius’s best race.

“He’s come up to this in really good shape,” Reid said.

Among Reid’s trio of sophomores for the Lil E. Tee, Mailata rated highest at 2 but cedes recency and proven 3-year-old form to Ponder and Dream, whom Sanchez will break from the rail.

Ponder and Dream has come forward through some combination of maturity and the addition of blinkers. He aced his route debut May 12, dominating Pennsylvania-bred allowance foes, and his fading fifth June 13 in the $300,000 Delaware Derby came with an excuse.

“He shipped horribly. Took us half an hour to get him onto the van, and we had to back him off it. I’m surprised he ran as well as he did. I almost scratched him,” Reid said.

Mailata also responded favorably to the addition of blinkers, winning three in a row last year, including the Pennsylvania Nursery over competition similar to Saturday’s. Mailata makes his first start since a poor showing after a good trip in the Withers on Feb. 6 in New York.

“It’s certainly a race we’ve been looking at with Mailata,” Reid said. “He’s really filled out and looks good. He’s been a natural route-of-ground horse all along.”

The Storm Cat drew only six entrants, but three of them, including likely favorite Bartlett, will have designs on the lead, which could set things up for Uncle Heavy. A graded stakes-class 3-year-old during 2024, Uncle Heavy missed nearly all his 4-year-old campaign, struggled in three starts this past winter, but showed signs of life in an April 24 return from a freshening. His turf debut May 29 is best ignored.

“He’s a huge horse, probably 1,300 pounds, and it’s taken some races to get him fit,” Reid said.

Carmelina could go odds-on in the Garofalo, run over a seven-furlong trip Reid thinks is her best. She’s won 5 of 6 at Parx and easily won her three dirt stakes facing Pennsylvania-breds.

The Parx stakes-racing pattern Reid established years ago should carry through Saturday – run a lot, win often.

◗ The Storm Cat and Garofalo are part of Saturday’s Gulfstream Summer Sweep Pick 5. The $1-minimum wager has a 15 percent takeout and is open only to retail players. Saturday’s bet also includes races 8, 10, and 11 at Gulfstream.

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