Trouble Kid, Beach Hut make first starts for new trainer Gargan
Races 3-8 on the Saturday card at Parx Racing are all either allowance or optional-claiming races. Total purses of $384,000 will be up for grabs on the nine-race program.
The most interesting race of the day is the fifth, where Trouble Kid and Beach Hut are scheduled to make their first starts for Danny Gargan after having been transferred away from Ramon Preciado.
Preciado claimed Trouble Kid out of a runner-up effort in a $15,000 maiden-claiming race and went on to win the Grade 3 Gallant Bob and Valley Forge stakes at Parx with him. Trouble Kid also finished first in the $350,000 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park but was disqualified and placed second for interference on the backstretch.
Although not as accomplished as Trouble Kid, Beach Hut won three races, and was disqualified from another win for drifting inward, after being claimed by Preciado for $16,000.
More than 30 horses were transferred from Preciado to Gargan in mid-April as Preciado was facing stiff sanctions for clenbuterol positives at Parx.
Gargan’s horses are running well at Parx but have had difficulty reaching the winner’s circle. He is 1 for 9 at the meet but has had six seconds and a third.
This third-level optional $40,000 claiming race is not an easy spot for Trouble Kid or Beach Hut, as El Deal and Eighty Three also are entered.
El Deal, based in New York with Andrew Lakeman, is 4 for 6 in his career and is exceedingly quick. This will be his third start following a layoff.
Eighty Three, trained by David Jacobson, defeated Joking in a second-level race at Aqueduct in March. Joking has since won two straight, including the $100,000 Diablo Stakes.