Vision Perfect wins Parx Dash, Smiling Causeway in Turf Amazon

Trainer Jason Servis showed off his hot hand when sending out Vision Perfect to a hard-fought victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Parx Dash, the richest of two Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series events for turf sprinters held Saturday at Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia.

Vision Perfect was put to an all-out drive by Frankie Pennington when edging past a stubborn Pool Winner to prevail by a long nose. Pure Sensation, the 9-10 favorite and the two-time defending winner in the five-furlong Parx Dash, was another 1 3/4 lengths back in third in a field of 10 older horses.

Vision Perfect, a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred horse by Pollard’s Vision, returned $9.20 as second choice after finishing in 57.18 seconds over firm ground.

Pool Winner, an 11-1 shot under Edwin Rivera, led most of the trip, with Pennington cleverly pinning Pure Sensation and jockey Kendrick Carmouche on the rail as the field exited the turn. From there, it was a two-horse duel, with Vision Perfect narrowly getting up.

Claimed by the Mr. Amore Stable for $80,000 in June 2017, Vision Perfect now has won six of 29 starts and $612,784. The Parx Dash was his fourth stakes win and his first in a graded event, following the Awad at Belmont Park at 2, the Woodhaven at Aqueduct at 3 – both for his previous trainer, David Donk – and the Silks Run at Gulfstream Park in March. Prior to the Parx Dash, he was sixth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs.

Servis, who was on hand from his Monmouth Park base, has been winning at an uncanny clip at Monmouth and Belmont, combining for a 35-for-67 record (52 percent) at those two tracks this year going into the Parx Dash. Some 15 minutes after the Parx Dash, Servis further improved on that mark when Firenze Fire romped home a winner in the Dwyer at Belmont.

The Parx Dash was the third of five legs in the turf-sprint division for 3-year-olds and upward in the newly revived MATCH series at East Coast tracks. The next divisional race is the Wolf Hill on the July 29 Haskell undercard at Monmouth Park.

Smiling Causeway all the way in Turf Amazon

About an hour earlier, Smiling Causeway was quickest from the gate when running her six rivals off their feet in the filly-mare counterpart to the Parx Dash, the $100,000 Turf Amazon.

Breaking from the outer post under Daniel Centeno, Smiling Causeway opened daylight after the first 100 yards and soon built an insurmountable lead when prevailing by three lengths over Blue Bahia, the late-closing 3-5 favorite trained by Servis. She returned $7.60 after finishing five furlongs in 56.92 seconds.

Smiling Causeway, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Giant’s Causeway, is trained by Arnaud Delacour for the Audley Farm Stable. She now has been first or second in all but one of her nine career starts, with the lone stakes among her four prior victories coming in an ungraded turf sprint at Tampa Bay Downs in late December.

The Turf Amazon was the third of five legs in the filly-mare sprint division in the MATCH series. The next divisional race is the Aug. 11 Incredible Revenge at Monmouth.